Samantha Allan Park
by TheNerdyTomboyNewb96
Summary: Sam is a tomboy nerd whose life has been destroyed by the Foot. She has nothing but her older brother who's barely ever around. Somehow, fate leads her to discovering the turtles. Will they accept this stranger they just met, or push her away? Will this make her life better, worse? Involves canon material from movies, shows, and comics along with original content/characters.
1. Chapter 1

Theme music:  
-Big Bang (Loser)  
-Echosmith (Cool Kids) 

Chapter #1

The bell had rung and finally the school day was over. Coincidentally, all my after school club groups decided to cancel their activities, so I was free to head straight home. Most normal everyday people would love being able to head straight home, but I would rather have had something to do at school. Heck, anything would be better than just heading back to an empty apartment with no one in it. Jay had to work again (when didn't he?) so tonight was just another night alone.

Most high school kids would be excited for whatever exciting plans they had scheduled for that night with their friends, but again, this wasn't the case for me. It's weird actually, since I'm a participant in multiple school groups: NHS, student council, senate, mathletes, robotics, etc. pretty much any academic group the school has to offer. I was also a dancer at a locally well-known dance studio, AND to top it off I was also a member of a club soccer team. As you can see, it's not like I was isolated from the world. Ironically I'm surrounded by people all the time, but none of them seem to want anything to do with me. Literally all the groups I just previously mentioned have cliques and groups of friends that get together every weekend, but not once have any of them ever asked me to join them. They talk to me in class sometimes, but then it's just "see you later Sam" and then I never hear from them anymore.

This has pretty much been my life since 7th grade when my only friend and dependent was my older adopted brother Jay. I was about 12 and he was 19, we were all the other had after what the foot clan had done to us, but I don't want to get into that right now.

At this point I was standing outside my apartment complex. Luckily I lived within relative walking distance of the school, so it didn't take too long to get home. I punched in the code to get into the building and headed upstairs to the 12th floor. I unlocked the door to my apartment and walked inside, instantly throwing my back pack into the corner of the room. I had no homework since I was in all standard classes. I saw no point in suffocating myself with constant AP homework, so I studied for the tests on my own time and took easier classes to lessen the stress.

I walked back to my room and went over to my desk. I opened the drawer and pulled out a pair of glasses with a solid black square frame. In the bridge of the glasses was a small camera. Basically I had built a pair of glasses that would have the same abilities as an everyday Go Pro. I had nothing better to do, so why not just wander around New York alone? Like I said before, anything had to be better than just hanging around the apartment all night, again. If I was going to spend another night alone, why not go out alone rather than stay inside the entire time?

I packed up a small bag I could sling around my shoulder with the main necessities that I needed: my wallet with about 40 bucks and all important passes and cards, my cell phone, my keys, and some type of small weapon. In this case I had a small pocket knife. It's New York, you never know what will happen. Once I got my belongings ready I made sure that the glasses were still functioning correctly. I walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror and put on a fake smile. I then went back to my room and put a small plug head into a tiny port that slid open on the side of the glasses. I plugged the other side of the chord into my lap top and yup, the quick ten second video was playing with good clear quality. I then shut the lap top down, turned off all the lights, and headed out.

I sent Jay a quick text message stating that I was going out for a walk and for him to update me if anything changed. I headed down the hallway and into the elevator. I felt the phone vibrate and read a message that said "Please be careful, I know you're tough but you're still only 16. Stay in crowded areas and only travel around the parts of town that you're familiar with. I'll be home around 11:30. Love you!" I rolled my eyes and smiled. It was nice that Jay trusted me, though I'll honestly admit that I totally abuse that trust. I literally walk everywhere to the point where every part of New York is familiar to me. Again, I'm home alone, A LOT. So I've also wandered around alone a lot.

It was about 4:00 when I left the building. I walked around some familiar streets outside, then headed down towards the mall. I wandered around some of the clothing stores, went into the arcade for a little while and topped all my high scores on the same twenty or so video games that I enjoyed, read tons of books, magazines, graphic novels, and whatever else I could get my hands on in the bookstore, and then headed to the food court for some dinner. It was close to 7 when I headed out of the mall. I wasn't sure what else to do with the remaining time I had left, so I thought why not ride the rails for a while?

I entered the subway and saw that there was a train that within the next few hours would land at a stop not too far away from my home, so I got my pass out and boarded the train. I stood and grabbed a handle near the window. Even though we were underground I still enjoyed looking out the windows, it's something I had always loved to do since I was a little kid. I was surprised at how much room there was, knowing that it was still "early" on a Friday night. I looked out the window waiting for something to happen. I feel like I'm always that way now, just waiting for something to happen. Life was fun and exciting when I was younger, but now life was just lonely and boring. As bad as it is to say, I almost wished something crazy would happen one day. Over the years I had become somewhat of an adrenaline junky, sneaking around and looking for something I could hack into and investigate, places I could go that I probably shouldn't know anything about, that kind of thing. Tonight however had been one of my more mellow nights. Some nights I would binge watch something on Netflix or go online and play some video games, tonight was another one of those more basic nights. I kept staring out the window at the walls, waiting for something to happen. But hey, what are the odds that anything exciting is living within those walls?

It was a little before 10 when I got off the train and headed back home, perfect timing to. If Jay had caught me then I'd be screwed. If he knew how late I wandered around alone then he'd be watching my back every second of the day. Once I got to my room I got my lap top back out and connected my glasses to it. I wanted to try some new Eulerian techniques I had learned about that would amplify the movements of whatever I recorded. Some of it was funny, like seeing people's faces change color from blood flow. I played around with that for a while until I got to the footage of me riding the train. I was going to skip this part, but I couldn't just watch half the video, organized chronological me had to watch the video full way through at least once. I edited the film and looked for anything interesting. The technique I was using was supposed to amplify any small movements that the naked eye couldn't see, but there shouldn't have been anything interesting on a solid wall that was recorded for a few hours, at least that's what I thought.

As I slowed down the footage, I noticed some small left and right movements. Something was moving side to side along the wall, and not only once, but multiple times. What was moving? I tried zooming in and realized that it was an incredibly small camera. What was that doing there? Was someone filming a movie in the subway? If so, why were they using such small spy cameras? I noticed these cameras all throughout the video I had captured that night. I kept re-watching the film as I looked for a pattern or for some clue as to what the cameras purposes were. Finally, there was a break in the wall that lead down a tunnel in the middle of the subway. Down that tunnel was more small movements, meaning that there were more cameras heading down that direction. Someone was trying to monitor something down in the subway, but what?

"Interesting…" Well, thanks to my adrenaline filled brain and my curiosity, it looked like I had plans for tomorrow night.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter #2

The next night I packed a back pack with materials I thought I might need when investigating the unknown area. I brought a scanner with a laser that would help detect where each of the cameras were, some small dome cameras that were linked to a small tablet that I kept within a pouch of the back pack so that I could see if anyone was coming, an old cell phone that I had messed with and could now be used as a crypto phone for eavesdropping and hacking, a pair of night vision goggles, some flash drives that I knew could hold and download tons of information and could do so within seconds, a simple grappling hook attached to a rope, and I also put a flashlight in the bag because why not?

In the two side pockets of the pack I put in two black metal tonfa that extended and shortened when I pressed a button on the bottom of the handle. In my pocket I also had a small pocket knife, and on my right hand I also had a small ring where a blade could pop out when a small part on the bottom was forcefully pushed in.

I made sure to change my look before I left. I used a black wig to cover my brown hair, and I wore black contacts to hide my light brown colored eyes. I used some make-up to make my skin look like it was a lot tanner than its usual pale white shade. I put on a form fitting long sleeve black shirt, form fitting black sweat pants, and my black running shoes. I wore a black beanie, black gloves, and even a black surgical mask that had a cute toy bear mouth print on it.

Once again Jay was working ridiculously late and said he probably wouldn't be getting back until early Sunday morning, so getting home on time wasn't an issue tonight. This was one of the two reasons I had waited so long before I began my investigation. The other reason being that at night time it would be harder to be seen compared to earlier in the day when some light still made its way down below the surface.

I left around 10p.m. through an exit in the back of the building on the bottom floor. It lead to an alley way where in the center was a manhole cover. I tried to quietly lift it up, and then I tried to quietly bring it back down as I climbed down the ladder leading into the sewer. I pulled out my phone and used a GPS system to lead me back to the location I had passed by the previous night. I used my flash light to guide the way for the time being until suddenly, my detector device went off. According to the device, there had been another one of the small cameras nearby. I switched out the flashlight for my night vision goggles and also pulled out the camera detector. I hid around a corner, aimed the device in the direction of the camera, and fired the laser. After a few seconds, the red light on the device turned green, signaling that the camera had been disabled and that I was free to move on.

I followed this pattern for about half an hour, every once in a while setting up a camera of my own, just to be safe. I had an audio sensor set up on my hand-held device as well, I wanted to be extra cautious since I had no idea what I might find.

 **Theme:  
Bassnectar (Butterfly ft. Mimi Page) **

Finally, I saw a dim light shining down from the opposite side of the path from where I was standing. I put my goggles on the top of my head and I slowly walked forward. I heard a faint noise, but I wasn't sure what it was. It sounded like water, but would there be that much running water at this part of the sewer? I pulled my knife out of my pocket as I creeped around the corner. I was confused about what I saw at the opening at the end of the path.

I saw a t.v. and a couch and computers…what? As I continued to walk farther into the room, my jaw dropped. There was a water slide to my right, and next to that was a small eating area. On my left was a small space set up like a living room. It had a couch and some unique chairs, I swear one of them was made out of pizza boxes. There were even some video game systems with boxes of games next to the couch near the wall. As I walked forward I saw that there was some deeper space on the left that led to what seemed to be an arcade, and past that was more open space. I then looked forward to see, god how many monitors were there? There were computer screens with scanners and trackers and who knew what else displayed across them.

I kept walking around the gigantic room and looked at every site it had to offer. It was filled with all types of random objects from the city surface. Were these people secret agents, or were they just very creative artists? I was sent multiple different signals after getting a good look at this place. As my eyes wandered upwards and saw how high the ceiling was, I accidentally bumped into a skate board. Correction, a chair made out of nine skateboards. I was leaning more towards the idea that artists dominated this space. I then walked over towards the right side of the room. There was a small bridge connecting the main walkway to the eating area. On the wall in front of me were four gigantic circular openings, two on top and two below. They lead to some open space behind them, but I didn't want to venture to far from the entrance I had used. I noticed that the top left opening had some hammocks and bean bag chairs, the bottom left had some work out equipment, the bottom right seemed to be used for weapon storage, and the top right had…a DJ turntable with some other guitars and a drum set, definitely some random themes there. Following along the wall was a small kitchen area. I looked in the fridge, and there was nothing but frozen pizza and a variety of drinks. That was interesting. What was more interesting was the huge van on my left. I walked over to the stairs and looked down at the truck. It looked like the inside had tons of tech gear as well. Now I was thinking that maybe it wasn't artists living down here.

I then paused for a moment, I had to have been dreaming, right? Maybe someone had actually attacked and drugged me and this was all in my head.

Just as I thought that, I felt a presence nearby. I pulled my knife back out in self-defense…but nothing happened and no one appeared, so I slowly put the weapon back into my pocket. I checked my phone and saw that it was about 11:00p.m. I should probably start heading back soon. Who knew how long it would be until whoever lived here came back. I went back over to where the computers were, now realizing that there was a small opening between the two collages of monitors. I walked past them and was shocked to see that inside the opening was a lab. Well, okay I wasn't so shocked anymore, at this point I was more intrigued at what I would find next. I saw a flash drive laying on a counter in the room. Without even considering the consequences, I took the flash drive and quickly put it in a zippered pouch inside my bag. With that, I put my goggles back on, got my GPS system ready and back tracked all the way through the sewer. I collected my dome cams on my way and finally by about 11:45p.m. made it back to the alley way outside my apartment building.

As soon as I got home I started setting up some cameras and other equipment within my room in case someone tried to come after me and attack. I also started setting up some programs on any and all devices I had in case someone tried to hack in and steal anything. Whatever I had just discovered, I wanted to learn more about it, no matter the cost. I mean if matters got to bad then I would back away, especially if Jay somehow got involved. But if it was just about me, then I didn't care. Jay was all I had left in this world and as long as he was safe then I was fine. He had a girlfriend now so she could comfort him if something that bad were to happen to me. Wow, that was pretty dark even for me, but hey blame life for that. It's the curve balls that the world threw at me in the past that explain how I could even think something like that.

But in all seriousness, I was extremely curious about what I had just found. I wanted to investigate further into what I had just seen, and nothing was going to stop me.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter #3

It was about 3a.m. when the turtles got back to the lair. There hadn't been a whole lot of crime that night, but they could only go out when it was dark, so sometimes they would still wander around the rooftops of the city just for the fun of it. For the majority of the night nothing had happened, so they stopped and watched movies from the rooftop near an outdoor theater that had been built behind some buildings in a back lot. It wasn't really until about 2a.m. when any action happened. A group of about five to ten guys had cornered a couple of women that had left a bar on their own.

Of course stopping these guys was a piece of cake to the turtles, but Raph had received a blow to his arm when one of the thugs had picked up a wooden bat they had seen poking out of a dumpster within the alley. Normally this wouldn't do any damage to any of the turtles, but Raph had injured his arm a few months back when fighting a Foot soldier. While dodging a punch, Raph had slipped and used his arms and legs to stop himself from falling all the way to the ground by pressing them against the walls of the alley as he slid down the wall. In doing so, he sprained part of the bone within his left arm, and of course this arm is where he was hit tonight.

Luckily, Donnie didn't think the injury seemed too serious. He had been working on a medical wing located in an open area behind where the lair was, but since it was still incomplete, he just used his lab for check-ups and for handling any and all wounds.

The four brothers had entered the lair from an entrance on the far left of the room. Leo instantly made a left turn and went up the stairs next to the entrance that led up to his bedroom. Mikey made his way to the far right of the room where an opening lead to his bedroom. Raph headed straight to the fridge along the wall of where they had just entered.  
"I'll be over in a sec Don, just let me get an ice pack real quick."  
"Alright bro, I'll get things set up."  
Donnie headed over towards the mid-right side of the room where two sets of about twenty computer monitors each were facing each other. In the middle of the set was an entry way into his lab. He had all types of devices and chemicals and who knew what else in there. Donnie went through one cabinet and got out some pain meds he could give Raph so that his arm didn't hurt as much, and then got out his hand-held x-ray device so that he could check his brothers arm. He assumed that the hit shouldn't have done too much damage at this point since Raph's arm was mostly healed, that and you needed to be ridiculously strong in order to hurt Raph in general.  
Raph then walked into the lab. Donnie pulled a wheelie stool over and had his brother sit down. He first gave Raph the meds, and then he used the x-ray to check on the bone. Everything still looked good to him, so the hit didn't do any real damage besides for just making Raphs arm feel sore.  
Donnie smiled at his older brother. "Alright, looks like you're good to go. Just try to take it easy, okay? If you must exercise or whatever, just don't do anything that starts to feel uncomfortable."  
"Alright, alright I gotcha. Can I go now?"  
"Yea you're good, see you in the morning."  
"Yea, night bro. And thanks for looking out" as Raph pat his brother's shoulder.  
As Raph left the room, Donnie reached over toward the counter, aiming to pick up the flash drive with all their medical information on it so he could update it about what happened to his brother's arm. He turned around after he felt nothing but empty space. He rubbed the back of his head and raised an eyebrow.  
"Huh….I could have sworn I left it right here on the counter…"  
He searched all along the counter, but still he couldn't find it. He then began searching all throughout the lab, looking through every bin and drawer he had. He searched every corner of the room, but still he could not find the flash drive. He quickly walked out and turned right so that he was standing in the entry way to his bedroom. He looked everywhere within the room and still found no sign of where the flash drive could be. He was beginning to worry. He ran out of his room and straight across the lair to one of the exits next to the arcade. Once he exited the lair he then made a right and headed for the med wing. Maybe he had left it in here for some reason….that he couldn't think of….at all really. But still nothing. He ran back into the lair towards Leo's room. He then started banging on the bedroom door.  
"Leo! LEO! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"  
Leo slowly opened the door, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.  
"Donnie, it's about 3 in the morning, what are you freaking out about this time?"  
"Leo, the flash drive with all our medical records is gone!"  
"…And?" Leo was confused as to what the heck that was supposed to mean, and why it meant his brother was screaming his head off.  
"Leo, you don't understand. I NEVER LOSE ANYTHING! And I can't find that flash drive! It has every bit of information that I've ever been able to gather about our existence on it!"  
Leo rolled his eyes as his brother continued to complain.  
"*sigh* Okay Donnie, I get that the flash drive is important, but there's no way tha-"  
"Oh no…it seems I was wrong…"  
The two brothers turned around to see their father, Splinter, a mutated rat whose height reached up to about the boys waists, standing across the room on the other side of the water slide.  
Mikey, who was still very sleepy, had also entered the room.  
"Dudes, what are we yelling about?"  
"Dad, what's wrong?" Leo was now growing concerned. He walked down a ramp under the water slide that led to the other side of the room with Donnie right behind him.  
Splinter shook his head.  
"We had a visitor today, it seems she was more troublesome than I thought."  
Mikey's eyes went wide.  
"WHOAAAA WE HAD A VISITOR!?"  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE ALL YELLING ABOUT!?"  
A very tired and grumpy Raph had entered the room.  
Splinter waved for his sons to come closer as he told them about what had happened earlier that night.  
"A young woman entered the lair earlier this same night. At first I wasn't sure what to think, it's not like we've ever had visitors before besides for April, but after she had walked around for a minute or two, she seemed innocent. I thought I had observed her closely to make sure that she wasn't doing anything suspicious" he frowned and shook his head. "But perhaps I was wrong."  
All four of the brothers' eyes went wide as they heard this info.  
Leo was shocked. "Dad, why would-"  
"OH MY GOD SHE TOOK IT!" Donnie was pacing frantically with his hands behind his head.  
Leo closed his eyes, took a breath, and started again.  
"Dad, why would you let someone wander around our home, and more importantly, why didn't you tell us anything?"  
"My son, I never sensed a bad aura when she was in here, not like when the Foot attacked us so many months ago. She seemed more so intrigued about something she had randomly discovered more so than that she was on a mission to attack us or purposefully invade our home. If it became anything serious then I would tell all of you immediately, but it seems that that's already the case. "  
Donnie was still freaking out. "Dad, if that girl thoroughly reads those files, she could learn everything about us. That drive has everything from what April was able to get from TCRI about our origins up to now, and it has every medical record I've ever kept about all five of us. Say she's working for the Foot or for Sachs, she now could know of any injuries any of us has, anything that could weaken us that maybe we don't or won't know about, she and they now have the advantage in any fight against us! That or say Shredder or Sachs somehow know her and know she has those files, if they threaten her then she'll easily give them away! No matter the situation, we're screwed!"  
Raph rolled his eyes. "Donnie calm down! I get that this is serious, but chill!" Raph knew this was obviously an important issue, but at the same time he was dying to just go back to his room and lie down.  
Mikey panicked. "Whoa dudes, a girl was here….what if she saw my room? My room isn't clean!"  
Raph shoved his brother "Shut UP you idiot!"  
Leo walked over to Donnie. "Alright, I get that this is serious, but hopefully whoever took those files is also sleeping since it's still three in the morning. Later when we are all awake we'll do whatever we have to in order to get that flash drive back. Sensei said the girl seemed innocent, so maybe this is all some type of misunderstanding. But everyone working while they're dead tired isn't going to get us anywhere."  
Donnie took a slow breath in, and then out. "Okay. You're right. We'll work on this later." He shook his hands, trying to get his jitters out, thinking about someone coming back and attacking them so soon after they had just found a new place to live for such a short period of time.

Raph was pleased. "THANK YOU! NIGHT!"  
"Wow, we're hunting for a girl…hope she's cute."  
"Shut up Mikey!" Raph smacked the back of his brother's head, and then the two went off towards the right side of the room where their bedrooms were.  
Donnie started to head off to his room as well.  
"Donnie." He turned to face his eldest brother.  
"Make sure you actually get some sleep, since you're the one who will know how to catch her. We'll need you in the morning, so go to sleep NOW. Please."  
Donnie gave a small smile and put his hands up in defense. "Alright Leo I hear you." It made him happy knowing that his brothers relied on his brains and technical abilities, especially since he was the weakest in the group, though that was also because he was the thinnest. No matter what he did he just couldn't build up his muscles the same way his brothers did. At the same time, he liked that there was still a way that he could contribute to the group of four and benefit the group. Plus, even if he wasn't as buff as his brothers, he was still incredibly strong, just not always as strong, but still very close behind.  
As Donnie entered his room, he was tempted to start looking into who the thief was, but he knew that he was just as dead tired as the rest of his brothers. Instead, he decided to map out a plan as to how he could get his brothers to help him catch the thief. He wrote out some ideas and then decided to call it a night.  
"We're going to catch you. You may have snuck by for now, but you're not going to get far."  
And with that, Donnie took off the tons of belts covering his body, the vacuum pack he carried on his back, and then finally his glasses as he collapsed on his bed and officially called it a night.

The first thing Sam did when she woke up was check and see if anyone had tried to enter her room throughout the night. She had two hidden cameras in her room: one in her digital clock on a small table beside her bed and one in the desktop speaker across the room on her desk. She also had a square motion detector that would go off in case someone was to come in through the window. Sam could turn this on and off with the old phone that she had reprogramed. From what she saw, no one had tried to break in. She then went over and inspected her computer. She had a pretty good cyber security program set up on her lap top, but from what she saw, it wasn't needed that night. It didn't seem like anyone had tried to hack into her computer which was a huge relief. This meant that whoever the flash drives owner was either A. didn't know she had taken it yet, or B. hadn't started looking for it yet. Either or was fine with her, this just meant she had some more time to plan out when and where she was going to start looking into the information that was on it.

For now though, she still wanted to relax before she would have to start watching her every move. She exited her room and made two rights. Once in the living room, she walked straight across the space and then made a left as she entered the kitchen. She felt lazy that morning and decided to make a bowl of cereal. "Hey kid, pour me some to."  
Sam smiled as she turned to see her older brother groggily walk into the kitchen.  
Jay was her adopted brother and was of Korean decent. Sam and Jay's biological grandfathers had worked together in the Korean War years ago, and they continued to be best friends when Jay's grandfather moved to the states and even lived with Sam's grandfather for so many years until he got married and began raising a family in his own home. The two men both had sons when they got married to their wives, and then these two boys were best friends all their lives as well. Once these two got married to their wives, their kids of course also became good friends. The two boys had grown up as only children, so both men were fans of having larger families. Jay's father was a few years older, so he had his children a few years before Sam's dad did. The Park's had four kids at two years apart: a daughter Jamie, a daughter Amber, a son Jay, and a final son Brian. The Allan's had their first child about a year after Brian was born. Again, their children were each born two years apart: a son named Nick, a daughter named Haley, a daughter named Sam, and a final son named Chuck. Even though they were two separate families who had no blood relations whatsoever, both families loved and cared very much for each other, the children all growing up like they were cousins because of how close they were. When Sam was six, the Park parents were involved in a car accident and sadly passed away. In the parents will it stated that if the other family said yes, their children would live with the Allan's. Without hesitation the entire family welcomed the four children into their home with open arms. Within thirteen years, so much had changed. Sam, who was 16, now lived solely with Jay who was only 23, and because of this she had also taken part of his last name. Her full name was now Samantha Allan Park.

All his life he wanted to become an actor, but because he was so young, there was no way Jay could afford to go to college on his own. At the same time, Jay had always been good at working with computers and fixing whatever electronic device was broken, so he found a program where he could basically work as tech support while also taking college classes part time, with the financial help from his job that is.

"When did you get in last night?" Sam poured her brother a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table across from him.  
"Not until about two, I love where I'm at with both my job and also in prepping for my career, but man I wish I had more time to just come home and relax."  
Sam gave her brother a worried look. "Are you getting enough sleep?"  
Jay gave a small smile. "Yea, but you have to work non-stop hours before you finally get a few days off to relax. Luckily I get my break for the next couple of days, not including classes. Those I still need to attend. But hey I'm free for today" he said in a much cheerier tone.  
A huge smile appeared on Sam's face. "Wanna take me on a field trip?"  
Jay chuckled. "A field trip? Where to?"  
"Well, you know where to go in order to use amazing software for free and/or for cheap right?"  
"…Yeaaaaa, why?"  
"It's for a project topic. It's like when you're in 5th grade and you need a topic to experiment with, except this time the topics are much more complex. Mine is to compare computer systems and see which programs and which companies have the best software to use. But I need a variety of places and programs to use."  
Jay raised a brow at his sister and laughed. "And this is for a high school class? Aren't you in standard classes?"  
"Wellllll, it's actually for a scholarship." Sam rubbed her hand on the back of her head.  
Jay smiled and shook his head. "Gosh you're such a nerd."  
"Says the guy who is literally working for geek squad."  
The two laughed and continued to crack jokes as they finally got a chance to hang out with each other. Jay still supported his sister in as many of her high school activities as he could, watching as many soccer games and dance performances as he could, helping her study for major upcoming tests, letting her practice presenting projects and speeches, etc. But even so, it was rare that they got to actually hangout and have a full on conversation with each other.  
"Okay, so I'll show you a few main locations I know about, we'll head to lunch, and then I'll spend the rest of the night kicking your ass at video games. Sound good?"  
"Riiiiight, because you always win when you verse me in video games, okay older brother."  
"Yea, when you don't cheat!"  
Sam threw her hands in the air. "Just because I know all the powerful and strategic moves for each game doesn't mean I'm a cheater!"  
"Yea, yea, whatever. Go get ready and I'll meet you back in the living room in 10."  
Sam smiled and headed towards her bedroom. She felt bad that she was lying through her teeth about why she wanted to go on this field trip, but she didn't want Jay knowing about what she had found, well stolen, just yet. She still wanted to investigate what was on that flash drive, and now her brother was leading her in the right direction in being able to do so.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter #4

"*sigh*" Donnie rubbed the sides of his head in frustration as he stared at his computer screen. It had been about a day and a half since the flash drive had been stolen and he was having a difficult time tracking it down.

Everyone had been assigned a job to complete in order to try and find the girl who had stolen from them. Leo was instructed to look up articles on unique and gifted women throughout the state, Raph was told to look up records for the top female criminals throughout the state, Mikey was given the task of searching through popular social media outlets for anything suspicious, and Donnie was using his technology to search for signals of the flash drive being used. There was a tracker within the data that was on the drive, so Donnie should have received a signal of when and where the drive was being used. But so far, nothing had happened.

The guys had hoped that there would be a lead somewhere, maybe an article talking about a criminal who was known for stealing whom the cops were on the lookout for, or a student who had made a recent discovery that was related to the info on the drive, anything that would give away any hints as to who may have entered their lair.

Leo and Mikey were sitting at the table, while Raph was sitting on the couch on the opposite side of the room. Donnie sat

Mikey was enjoying his portion of the search, but Leo and Raph weren't as interested.  
"Ugh come on Donnie, how much longer do we have to do this? There's no police statements talking about any major criminals, and you also haven't heard of any recent Foot activity. So why are we still sitting around? I say we take to the streets and look for this chick!"  
Leo rolled his eyes. "Raph, we know nothing about this girl. We don't know how old she is, what she officially looks like, where she's from, anything. All we know is Sensei's description of what she looks like and that's it."  
"So?" Raph glared across the room at Leo. "We know she has black hair and black eyes, so let's start there. Maybe check out some usual spots where criminals like to hang out at, I'm sure she'd be somewhere like that!"  
Donnie sighed. "That's the thing Raph." He spun his chair around, taking the first time in hours to look away from his cluster of monitors. "We don't know if she's a criminal. What if she's just a gifted student who found a way to find this place? We can't just go attacking random people."  
"She STOLE from us! How does that not make her a criminal? Why are we defending this chick?"  
Leo stood up. "We're not defending her, we're trying to analyze the situation! If we run in and just start attacking any and every black haired girl we can find in New York then this situation is going to get a million times worse!"  
"Guys chill, I can't investigate with you all yelling."  
Leo took the phone that Mikey had been using and rolled his eyes after looking at the screen. "Mikey, how is watching BuzzFeed videos on MySpace helping us try to track down this girl?"  
Mikey nervously laughed, trying to lighten the mood, even though his eldest brother was glaring down at him, and he could feel Raph's eyes glaring at him from behind as well.  
"Ahhhhh, hehe, well, you see-"  
Donnie tried to intervene "Uh guys?"  
"MySpace?" Raph was confused. "Why are you using MySpace? Who the hell uses MySpace anymore?"  
"I do Raph, I'm new to this! You know we're not allowed to go on social media sites!"  
"Guys?"  
Leo then turned to Raph. "Wait, how do you know that? Do you go on these types of sites?"  
"Uhhhhh" Raph looked away nervously. "Sometimes I like to see if we can get ahead of the enemy, you know?"  
"You don't post anything do you?"  
"Guys!"  
"Yes Leo, because my goal in life is to post online and let people know of our existence! I mean I can understand you questioning Mikey but questioning me, seriously? I'm not stupid!"  
"Heyyyy" Mikey frowned. "What are you trying to say?"  
"I'm saying that-"  
"GUYS!"

All three brothers looked ever at Donnie.  
"Guys, Raph is right about just sitting around. Instead of having you guys spend all day looking at electronic devices just waiting for something to change, you guys can just check back every once in a while throughout the day, and I'll be the main one to be on the constant look out for a signal of the device being used."  
"Thank you!"  
"Wait!" Leo held up his hand to stop his brother. "Don, that's not fair to you though."  
Donnie shook his head. "It's no problem. I know more about this this stuff anyway, and I want to be ready for when this girl makes a move, so it's best if I'm the one sitting around all day looking at these screens. Besides, I already do that on a daily basis" he chuckled.  
"Alright, but if anything important comes up then tell us immediately."  
"Immediately!" Mikey pointed at Donnie.  
Leo chuckled at his younger brother who was trying to make it seem like he had any idea of what they were talking about.  
After that, the three brothers left the room to go do whatever. Donnie turned back around to face all of his monitors. He kept waiting for a signal to pop up. If whoever has stolen the device was smart enough to disable so many of his cameras, then it was extremely likely that they would want to look at the information on the drive as soon as possible, so what was taking them so long?  
And that's when it hit him, what if it wasn't necessarily that they wanted to wait, but that they had to? He then pulled up a tab on one of the many monitors and searched for a list of high schools throughout the state. He decided that while he waited for the signal, he would hack into the main databases from each of the schools on the list and look for both current students and also graduates from the past couple of years, and search for and note as many of the black haired females with black eyes that he could find from each one.  
"Well, at least it's a start. Let's get to it."

Today was Monday, so I was in robotics club after school. Club got out in about five more minutes, then I would be on my way to a library halfway across town.

There were six places that Jay had taken me where I would be allowed to use computers that had the software to be able to prevent the files from getting hacked or stolen while I was reading them: Jay's work building, the university that he had attended, a library, a hospital, a bank, and an art studio. Luckily he had friends at all these locations that gave me a pass that would allow me to go inside on my own time. They all were thrilled to know that someone was interested in their software and what they used it for, and since they all knew my brother so well, they believed they could trust that I wouldn't do anything stupid or reckless at their workplace. Bless these people's souls for that.

I decided to go to the furthest location first which was the art studio. The passes didn't have any specific information on them about who I was, only that I was a guest who was to be allowed inside and where I was allowed to go inside the building.

Right after club ended I went home and changed. When I got to my room I put on a blonde wig, blue contacts, and I used some make-up to make my skin look paler than it already was. I hated seeing my hair be blonde. I don't have a problem with blonde hair, but I don't think it suits me very well. I packed a small cross-body bag with my phone, keys, any important passes or cards, and both my own and the stolen flash drive. I should have been in more crowded public areas tonight, so I didn't bring a weapon with me this time.

By the time I was ready to go it was about five in the afternoon. I left through the exit in the back of the apartment building and then walked towards a wooden fence that lead to another alley. Once I got through, I then left through that alley and entered the streets of New York. This was in case there were any cameras nearby, hopefully they would see me come from a different direction than from my actual building. I headed down towards the subway and rode the train for about another half hour, arriving at the studio by six. Once inside the building, I tried to act normal and not super excited that I was finally about to look into the device. I made my way to an empty room with about ten computers. I punched in a code that Jay's friend had given me and entered the room. I sat down at a computer and quickly got a post it note and put it over top the camera on the front of the computer screen. Then, I plugged in a flash drive of my own that contained a security system that should help warn me of any intruders, and then plugged in the flash drive I had taken. A folder popped up and after I clicked on it, tons of new folders flooded the page. I decided to start with the folder at the very top of the screen labeled _"TCRI's past."_ I was then brought to multiple typed up documents talking about past experiments that were conducted at TCRI. I began to wonder if the area I had discovered was an underground base for someone who worked for TCRI, I mean hey that would be a genius idea for a hiding place. The sewers definitely wouldn't have been my first guess as to where someone's hiding spot would be.

As I was reading, there was a highlighted section within the document. The highlight's talked about a chemical of some kind that was going to be used for medical research and how the chemical was used on five animal test subjects. From the way the document was worded, it seemed like someone didn't want every individual piece of information from this experiment known. It seemed suspicious, but I wanted to see what else there was to read about.

I then went back and clicked on a link titled _"Our DNA."_ A few charts then popped up that talked about regular human DNA and also about altered strands. I wondered if this had anything to do the animals that had been tested on in the previous document that I had read, but why did it say 'our' then? Unless whoever had typed all this was just trying to be silly.

Suddenly, a pop up stated that an unknown user was trying to access the information I was looking at. I then started typing in some codes that would block this person from viewing what was on my screen. I had to be quick. Dang, I hoped that I would have had a longer time to look at the info that was on the drive, but just like I had suspected, the owner was quick to pick up on my location.

After a few minutes of quickly punching in codes, I was able to block the intruder, but I knew it would only be a matter of minutes to seconds before they found another way in. I quickly took out the flash drives, took a breath to calm myself, and walked out of the room.

The whole way home I wondered if the intruder could be anywhere nearby by coincidence. Gosh that would be insane if they happened to be in that building for whatever reason, or just happened to be on this subway car at this exact same moment that I was.

As I got back to the alley, I took off my wig and tucked it under my shirt. I entered the building and went straight to my apartment, setting up my security devices once again. I was scared, but at the same time intrigued. I was curious as to what this chemical was, and why it was so important. I decided that I would research about it more tomorrow, and for now, I was going to try to stay calm and just focus on my school work, heading back to my ordinary life.

Donnie had made a decent sized list of all the girls with black hair and black eyes that were between 14 and 21 years old. He then had his brother's look for anything they could find about the girls on the list. There were a few leads, but nothing that hinted that these girls could figure out how to sneak into the lab. Plus, the majority of them had been out with friends all that Friday night according to their social media pages.

Just as Donnie began looking into an article about one of the girls in college, an alert popped up on his monitor.  
"I got it…..GUYS I GOT IT!" The other three looked up and hurried over and stood behind their brother.  
"Where is she?" Leo questioned.  
"She's at…..got it, an art studio."  
"Soooooo, what're you doing dude?" asked a curious Mikey.  
"Well, I'm using a security program to hack into the computer she's using. It should allow me to steal all the information on the flash drive and basically wipe it clean while all the info is transferred to my computer where it will stay safe. But I just need to hack into the studios database and then into whichever computer she's using."  
"Ahhhhh….right…"  
Donnie chuckled. "I'm moving the info on the flash drive somewhere where our thief can't touch it anymore."  
"Dude, why didn't you just say that before?"  
Donnie continued typing away. "Aha! I'm in, now I just need to…crap, she's blocking me out already?!" Donnie continued to type away furiously. It was quiet for the longest time, no one wanted to break Donnie's concentration. After a while, the brainiac of the bunch sighed in defeat.  
Leo scrunched his forehead. "What happened?"  
"She got away. AGAIN."  
"How did she do that?" Raph clenched his fists, this girl was really starting to piss him off. He didn't like seeing his brother so stressed out, and the fact that she beat Donnie at something he was a genius at worried him even more.  
"She knew the right codes to use in order to block mine. Just as I was about to dive back in, she must have pulled the flash drive and left. There's still ways for us to hunt her down, but this would have made things a lot easier for us, well more so easier for me specifically."  
Mikey frowned, he knew that his older brainiac brother was mentally stressing and complaining about himself for not being able to win this electronic battle.  
"So what do we do now bro?"  
Donnie began typing again. "If I can get access to the buildings security cameras, which I'm doing now, we can look and see who was in the building and maybe even who was in the room of the computer that was used to get a better visual of who the thief is. Then maybe we can narrow our search down a lot more."  
He pulled up one of the buildings cameras on each screen. The four looked back and forth from each monitor, but they couldn't find a black haired woman anywhere. Donnie then figured out which room was used and pulled up the video from the time that he was trying to hack into the studios computer. He could only see the side of the girls face, but to his surprise, he was staring at a woman with blonde hair rather than blonde.  
Leo looked and saw his brothers jaw drop.  
"Now what's wrong?"  
"Well, there's a few scenarios as to what I'm seeing. Scenario A. she is or at some point was wearing a disguise. Scenario B. she has already shared or lost the flash drive and now someone totally different has it. Either way, she's made the whole situation a lot more complicated. If this person on the screen is the same person who stole from us, then this chick is good at what she does."  
"So what do we do now?"  
"I'll have to keep waiting. It might take a few days, but if I can get signals from where she's at, I can try to figure out some generic ideas as to where she lives based on the locations of the buildings she's in. Also, the more places she visits, the more camera angles we can get. If we can get closer looks at her, and also angles that show which ways she heads home, we may be able to pin point her home location."

All four brothers smiled. Finally they had a plan that could lead them to catch this girl. It was a risky plan, but hopefully the result would end up in their favor.  
_

It took him four more days, but Donnie had finally started to plan how he and his brothers would try to capture this girl.

Donnie smiled. "Alright, it's time to take action."  
Leo walked over to his brother. "How did you figure out who we should go after?"  
"Get ready, it's a long explanation." He breathed in as his other two brothers also walked over to hear how everything went down. "Each time I got an alert that the drive was being used, I would try to hack into the computer that was being used and retrieve what I could, and I was actually able to secure some of the documents. Once the girl had fled the scene, I analyzed any video footage I could get my hands on: videos from the building the thief had been in, security cameras outside of the building in the direction she had gone once leaving the building, subway cams, etc. That's when I began to notice a pattern in the thief's schedule. Usually she would read over the documents later in the evening or sometime at night, but on Thursday the thief had observed the documents in the early afternoon rather than closer to night time as usual."  
Leo nodded. "So that's why you had us check all those school databases for absentees, right?"  
Donnie smiled and nodded.  
"Exactly! I found a few female absentees who had similar body figures like the girl we had seen in the videos. Once the options had been narrowed down to about twenty girls or so, I began looking into some of the women's more personal information. Based on academic records alone, the options were then narrowed down to about ten girls, and the location of Thursday's visit narrowed this down to three. I found out that three of the girls were related in some way to someone in the building where the signal was sent. So I researched more about these three girls and found out that one of them has been in school clubs like robotics and mathletes, and she also plays soccer and dances. Her AP and SAT scores are ridiculously high and she participates in competitions like science fairs. She has to be our girl!"

Raph raised in eye brows in shock. Even though he knew his brother was a genius, it still always shocked him how quickly he could figure out the solution to any situation within a matter of days.

Leo nodded his head and smiled.  
"So you think it's time we approach this woman?"  
"Well, I figured out that she's living with a man under the last name Park and where his main location is, and based on some of the routes the camera angles showed her taking by bus, train, and on foot, I've been able to pin point that they live together in the same complex. So as soon as possible we should carefully approach her and get the flash drive back."  
"We should be doing more than that!" Raph was getting angry now. "This chick came into our home and stole from us! I think we should bring her back and question her motives! How do we know she won't be back again?!"  
"We're…we're not gonna hurt her right?" Mikey was concerned with where this conversation was going.  
"Well fearless, what's the plan?"  
Leo stopped and paused for a moment.  
"Alright, Donnie figure out the best way for us to get to where she lives. We'll CAREFULLY try to approach her and see if we can either talk there, or bring her back here where it's safer for us so that we're not seen. BUT-" as he looked over at his youngest brother "if she starts getting violent or threatens us in any way, then we begin to use force. If it's obvious that just talking is too risky for our safety and secrecy, then we bring her back the hard way. In the end, it will be her choice as to how everything plays out."

Raph grew a nasty smile. From everything he had heard so far, this was no ordinary girl, and he couldn't wait to see what she was made of. He had waited a whole week to finally go out and catch the thief who had threatened the safety of his family and he was excited to finally get some answers.  
He cracked his knuckles and faced his brothers. "Alright boys, tonight's Friday night, let's have some fun." And with that, he left the room to go exercise and get himself pumped up for whatever was in store for them later when day turned to night.  
Mikey's eyebrows rose as he followed his brother out of the room.  
"Hey, are we going somewhere?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter #5

All week I had been trying to read the documents that were held on the flash drive, and every time I began to read anything, my computer was hacked by whoever was on the other side. I basically had to run every time I finally got everything set up and started. Tonight was the last chance I really had to view anything on that drive. I had visited all the locations I been brought to except for the university that Jay attends, and I was running out of disguises. I didn't know anything about make-up except for how to make my skin look lighter or darker with concealers and foundation, and I had basically used all my wigs and contacts. Since tonight was my last chance, I decided to just go as me. I had a feeling some type of confrontation was coming soon anyways because of how fast this person had been hacking into whatever computer I was using. Their speed and skill made it clear that they were catching up to me, so tonight I made sure to dress appropriately for a fight.

I wore a sporty gray t-shirt underneath a black zip up jacket, denim colored jeggings, and black tennis shoes. Tonight, just like the past few nights, I carried a backpack on my back where on the inside I was sandwiching my tonfa in between a few AP textbooks, and on an outside holder on the back was holding my skateboard, which at the moment was condensed into one thin rod, it extended when a button was pressed. This way I looked like I was just an everyday college student while at the same time I was prepared to defend myself. I also made sure to wear my ring with the blade inside just to be safe. I also had a small pouch inside the bag that had the basics: phone, keys, etc.

It was about nine at night when I left my apartment. Jay was meeting up with some friends to work on a project for one of his classes and told me that he wouldn't be home until sometime tomorrow afternoon, so I was free to leave and come back home whenever. I decided to take advantage of this and leave later in the day than usual in order to try and mix up when I was leaving to go view these documents. I even skipped school yesterday and still the hacker was ready and waiting for me, and they even stole back some of their documents. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the flash drive after tonight, maybe I would plug it into a random computer somewhere and just give this person back their information. It was interesting, but it didn't seem like anything illegal or anything that I would want to hold onto.

 **Theme:  
Skillet (Feel Invincible)  
Skillet (Resistance) **

I walked out the back door of the building and made sure it closed all the way and locked. I began walking down the alley when I heard a noise, the sound of something falling. I stopped and stood still, I thought that this might happen. From what I heard, the sound came from further behind me down the opposite side of the alley. I couldn't tell if this person was by themselves, or if there were multiple people. Luckily, there was a manhole a few steps away from where I was. I took a breath, let it out, and darted forward.  
I picked up the cover and launched it behind me.  
I don't know who it was, but I heard a male voice say "Whoa!" and then saw a large dark figure duck and dodge the cover. I wasn't able to get a good look at the guy because I was already sliding down the ladder that lead into the sewers.

At this point I was just running blind, trying to remember the paths I had gone down this same time last week and trying to avoid them since that would lead me right back to where this person was staying. Hopefully, the further I was away from their main home location, the safer I would be. Right now I was mentally thanking my coach for making us run so many laps and hills during practice, because right now all that training was really paying off.

My main problem was that I had no idea where I was. None of these tunnels seemed familiar, but hopefully that meant I was nowhere near where their base was.  
Suddenly, I saw some light coming in from the top right side of the wall. I ran over and looked up through the sewer drain and saw that I must have been under a road near one of the quieter parts of town. I lifted up the drain cover and looked around. I was at a street that was surrounded by small local shops and food markets, no wonder it was so quiet, no one shopped at these places this late on a Friday night.

I went into my bag and pulled out my phone and pulled up a GPS system. I typed in the name of the first street I saw. I was actually pretty far away from where I had started running, I then checked the time and saw that it was now 9:20. Dang, I ran pretty far within that amount of time. I put my phone away as I was mentally bragging about how proud I was of myself. In doing so, I had lost my focus, and because of this ridiculous screw up, I hadn't realized that I was being watched.

I heard the sound of something fly through the air, and the next thing I knew, all the street lights had been blown out. If I had been focused then I would have been prepared for what came next.  
I went to reach for my tonfa when I heard someone shout "wait, no!" and that fast everything went dark.

I heard some faint noises as my eyes started to open, or at least they tried to open, why couldn't I open my eyes? As my senses started to come back, I realized that I was wearing a blindfold. I made sure to keep completely still so that whoever had hit me wouldn't realize that I was beginning to wake back up. I tried to listen carefully to what was going on around me.  
"You could have been a lot gentler dude."  
"She threw a manhole cover at your face! What twiggy girl has the strength to do that?! And her accuracy to! She threw it so fast and her aim was so spot on I actually thought it was gonna hit you!"  
"Aww you do care."  
"Now is not the time for jokes you little-"  
"Enough! We need to figure out how we're going to handle this."  
"Yeah, since not using force sure worked well, right fearless?"  
"Oh, and please share how you punching her in the jaw worked out as a much better plan for us."  
"Yea man, no wonder she wanted to run away."  
"She ran away BEFORE she even saw us, she was never going to handle the situation peacefully!"

So far I had heard three different voices talking. It seemed that the voices were coming from behind me, so my back must have be facing my kidnappers. I felt a bit of a rocking, so I assumed I was in some kind of vehicle, probably the van I had seen in their hideout the other night.

"Well no offense, but if someone hadn't been goofing off then she never would have heard us in the first place and we could have handled the situation better."

Okay, now there had been a total of four different voices, so four vs. one, fantastic baby.

Sam gently tried to move her wrists to see what she could get her hands on. When she moved them backward, she felt something soft. It felt like she was sitting on a couch. That was a bit odd, but then again, there was nothing normal about any part of this situation. It felt like there was just rope tied around her wrists, so she gently started to lean back some, as if her limp body was just moving slightly due to the fact that she was in a moving vehicle. Once her back was against the couch, she then began pushing her finger against the trigger on the ring. It took a few minutes, but finally the blade popped up. While the four voices continued arguing, Sam slowly began cutting away at the rope that kept her wrists bound together.

"So sir fearless, what's the plan now?"  
"We take her back to the lair and we'll talk to her there. I'll decide what to do next based on how that goes."  
"That's it?!"  
"And what do you suppose we do then?"  
"Well first I saw we challenge her! Let's see how she likes it when we throw shit her way! Then we keep questioning her until we get some answers!"  
"And if that doesn't work?"  
"We go back to using force, that's what lead us to finally capturing her!"  
"Well technically it was my planning tha-"  
"Yea yea I know that your genius is why we were able to track her down, but if we let her keep running then-"  
"Maaaaaaybe we could have actually talked to her?"  
"You have no right to talk since you're the reason she got away in the first place!"  
"Whoa! Chill bruh…..okay maybe it was my fault a little bit, heh."  
"A LITTLE BIT!? Are you seri-"

Before Raph could finish his sentence, he froze as he saw the girl that had been behind them stand up. Her arms were free, and as she stood up she swung her right leg around as she turned her hips to her left and rotated her whole body around. As she swung, her right foot went up in the air. She moved so fast that Raph couldn't do anything to stop the girl from slamming her foot right against Mikey's face.  
Now Raph was more furious than ever. Deep down he had thought that maybe things would have gone better if Mikey hadn't accidentally slipped and dropped one of his nunchucks and startled the girl, but now all he believed was that this girl was pure scum. If she was really innocent, then she wouldn't have just kicked his baby brother in the face.

"THAT'S IT!" Raph charged towards the back of the van, but right after Sam had attacked, she immediately turned, ripped of the blindfold, and ran towards the back of the vehicle. Before Raph could get to her, she had already opened the door and swung around to the other side.

Raph quickly backed up, not knowing how to react. He so badly wanted to chase this girl down, but at the moment they were on a highway, and if he wasn't careful then someone might see him and his brothers through the opening in the back of the van. Luckily there were no cars behind them at the moment, but to Raph's surprise, the girl was no longer hanging onto the back of the door anymore.

Once Sam had officially gotten out of the van, she tried reaching for the ledge of the roof of the vehicle. She swung herself to the side and was able to get her hand on the ledge. She then swung hard to the right and was able to also get her leg caught on the ledge as well. She carefully pulled herself up onto the top of the truck.  
Sam had no idea where she was or what to do when suddenly she saw that a refrigerator truck was driving towards them in the opposite lane.  
She slowly began to stand up, preparing for a quick and risky leap.

"Donnie where'd she go!?" Leo began to panic as things continued to get out of hand.  
"I don't know I haven't seen her…yet."

As Donnie was scanning his mirrors to see where the girl was, he saw a figure move from the top of their truck onto the ladder on the back of a larger truck passing by.  
Donnie stopped the vehicle and sat there staring at the mirror in shock.  
"She jumped" he said with dropped jaw.  
"SHE JUMPED!?" Raph was beyond pissed. He couldn't wait to start fighting this girl since obviously she had some strength to her and all night she had been asking for a fight.  
"Dang that chick has a good foot on her, sucks I learned that the hard way though. Ow!"  
Raph quickly got a cold soda can from the fridge in the back of the van and handed it to his brother.  
Mikey took the can and smiled. "Hey thanks man!" he said as he opened the can and started to take a sip.  
Raph flicked his brother on the back of the head. "It's for you to put on your cheek not to drink!"  
He rolled his eyes and looked up towards his other two brothers in the front seats.  
"So how do we get her back now?" he snarled.  
"Don't worry, I'm already tracking her coordinates. I know a short cut coming up that will lead us to her."  
And with that, the brothers sped away in the van, mentally preparing themselves for what could possibly come next.  
_

Once the truck had lead me back to the city, I jumped off at the first red light it stopped for. I winced from the pain in my foot. I was used to foot injuries, but wow that was a hard hit! It felt like I had just run up and kicked a bowling ball. I never expected the kick to hurt my foot anywhere near as much as it did, but luckily I could still walk on it, there were just some sharp pains when certain spots hit the ground. I had experienced similar feelings during some of my soccer games and the pain now was about the same as then, so I just needed to carefully keep walking it off and then I would be okay.

Once I got onto the sidewalk, I immediately got my tonfa and put them in the side holders of my backpack, making sure that this time I would be prepared for an attack. I started walking down the sidewalk and looked around at the shops and street signs. I had been here before, but it had been a long while, so overall I was in unfamiliar territory. The next thing I knew, all the street lights went out again. Really? We were going through the exact same routine as last time?  
I stood completely still, waiting to hear any type of sound. It was incredibly quiet for what seemed life forever. I refused to move unless I heard any suspicious sounds, since running away the first time obviously was the wrong choice based on the conversation I had heard in the van. I now regretted making that decision, but at the time I just quickly reacted to what could have been a dangerous situation. How was I supposed to know whether these guys wanted to peacefully chat or not?

After what felt like years of waiting, I heard the slightest sound of footsteps coming from behind me. I instantly pulled out my tonfa and spun around in time to block what I assumed was an arm that was aiming to hit me in the back. I pushed off and slid backwards some while trying to keep my balance. I heard footsteps quickly coming towards me, but since I didn't know what this person looked like, I had no idea where to aim a hit. For now I decided to try and fight defensively until I could gain any type of intel on what this person looked like or how they fought, or at least that WAS the plan until I heard what sounded like a sword being unsheathed. Shit, this was bad. I heard the swish from the movement of the blade coming from the right, so I dodged to the left and began to run. I had no idea what direction I was running in and tried to use my tonfa to feel around me so that I wouldn't run into something.

I felt a wall on my right and just continued to run straight, hoping that it would lead me somewhere safe. Lucky me I ran into a dead end in a dark alley. Now I was really scared and was afraid of what my brother would do to himself if he found out I had been killed. I tried feeling around for anything I could throw and to my surprise I found a pile of bricks, I must have been near a construction zone of some type. I ran along the wall until I was in a corner, and once I heard footsteps again I began launching the bricks in that direction. I still couldn't see, but I could hear the sound of the swords connecting with and breaking the bricks. Wow, this guy had to have some muscle to him if he could actually break the bricks with his swings. I reached down for another brick, but I felt nothing. I kept moving my hands around on the ground as I began to panic, this couldn't be the end for me already. I stood back up in order to defend myself, but it was too late. As soon as I was up I was hit on my temple, and once again everything went dark.  
_

As I started to gain consciousness, I felt a huge pain in the back of my head. I was really feeling the effects of getting hit in the face twice within about an hour.

I could tell that I had been blindfolded again, but this time my hands were bound with twist ties rather than with just rope. I could feel that I no longer had my ring on either, I figured that that was going to happen. I listened for the voices that I had heard earlier that night. I heard them, but they were very faint, hopefully meaning that they were further away from me than they were the last time I woke up. My surroundings were still and I thought I heard the sound of running water, so I assumed they had taken me back to their hideout. I couldn't tell from sound alone where exactly I was located within the gigantic room, so I wasn't sure what I should do. This time I woke up on my side rather than sitting upright, so I tried to gently move my legs around to see if there was anything I could feel that would give any type of clue as to where my location was. I also tried reaching my arms forward, since my hands had been twist tied in the front instead of the back. I couldn't feel anything, so I rolled over and faced the other direction and tried again. My foot kicked against a wall, and when I tried to scoot back I hit another wall, so I was probably in one of the corner spots within the large space. My foot seemed to be feeling a little better now, so that was a good sign at least.

The water now sounded like it had been coming from behind me, so I was guessing, based on what I could remember from last week, I was probably in the corner that was almost directly across the room from where I had entered when I came here alone. I listened for the four voices again and they still seemed to be coming from farther across the room. As scared as I was of being punched again (I don't know how much more of that I could take) I knew that I had to take this chance to escape. I was able to stand up by leaning and pushing off the walls. I lifted my arms upwards in a straight position over my head when I heard a rough male voice yell "OH COME ON! AGAIN!?" followed by loud footsteps coming closer towards where I was standing.

I then quickly and swiftly yanked my arms down, pulling my elbows in towards my sides as I did so, and was able to break the twist ties. I spun around and yanked off the blindfold as I tried to face my body in the direction that I was about to run to, but once the blindfold came off I stood there in shock.

Standing in front of me was a giant, intimidating, weapon holding…turtle?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter #6

My jaw dropped when I turned around and saw him, and oddly he looked at me the same way. In front of me was a huge, as in ridiculously buff, turtle who was walking on two feet. His movements were human like, but his skin and body features were that of a turtle. His eyes were a greenish-yellow color. He had brown and red bandage wraps on his arms, wrists, calves, and feet. He had a strap going across the front of his chest which held what I assumed was a phone, and he had a few belts around his waist with holsters, but at the moment I couldn't see what they were holding. He also wore faded red shorts with brown flaps on the sides and red wraps around his knees. The brown flaps on the sides and in the front of his shorts almost displayed the traditional look of a samurai, and in addition to that he also had a red bandana that covered his head with a pair of black sunglasses on top. Who was this guy? I was so shocked but also so surprised that my dropped jaw slowly started turning into a small smile without me even realizing it.

"Are you…aliens…or mutants?"  
His expression then began to change from shocked to pissed, as his dropped jaw expression shifted into a scowl. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything he was cut off by a strict toned voice, and then a childish one.

"That's none of your con-"  
"WE'RE MUTANTS BABY!"

We both turned to see three other turtle human looking guys walk over. One of them was shaking their head at a shorter one, and the tallest rolled his eyes and nudged the shortest one.  
"Dude what gives?"  
"BE QUIET!" they shouted at him. He put his hands up in defense and walked off to the side.

I was trying to process everything that was going on.  
"Mutants huh…*gasp*" I slapped my hands to my cheeks. "You're the test subjects from the TCRI experiment! Right?"  
I looked from one turtle to the next, waiting for a response, but each of them just kept looking at each other with confused expressions, as if they were trying to reassure from the others how they should respond. So, I decided to ask the shortest one.  
I turned to him and asked "am I right?"  
He nodded with a huge smile.  
"Mikey, leave!" the strict one shouted.

The strict one was just a hair shorter than the buff one. I guesstimated that the buff one was about 6'5 and that the strict one was about 6'4. He also had a lot of muscle to him, but it seemed more like natural muscle and not so much that he spent every waking minute working out, like the buff one. Unlike the darker eyed turtle, this one had bright blue eyes. He wore a blue bandana and also sported the samurai look by wearing thin wooden armor across his chest, shoulder and knuckle pads, bandage wraps on his calves, and blue shorts that also had flaps that styled them to be similar to a samurai's armor. He also had a strap go across his chest, but this strap held a holder with two swords in them that were held on his back. Oh, so this was probably the one that knocked me out the second time, which I was still experiencing soreness from that. This one also wore shoes, but it was obvious that he had cut and altered both pairs so that they would fit his feet.  
My amazement at everything I was seeing made me continue to smile, even though I hadn't realized I was doing so.

"What's so funny?" the red one growled.  
"Um…what?" as my smile started to fade.  
"What are you smiling about? Is this funny to you? Do we look funny?!"  
"There's a burn mark on your shoulder…"  
"…wh…what?"  
I pointed towards his right shoulder. "Why is there a burn mark on your shoulder in the shape of kanji?"  
"He just did that to look cool!" the shortest shouted from across the room, instantly turning to run after doing so. I chuckled, he obviously knew that red was going to chase him down after saying that.

The remaining two sighed and shook their heads.  
"Well, so much for taking things seriously" blue said as he walked away towards the other two.

Now I was alone with the last of the four, the quiet one with the glasses. He had greenish-yellow colored eyes like the tough one, and he definitely had some muscle to him as well, but he was noticeably the thinnest of the four. What he didn't have in noticeable muscle he made up for in noticeable height though since he was definitely taller than the others, looking to be about 6'8. This guy was also a lot more fun to look at than the other two. He literally had technological devices and wires all over him. I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like he had a small vacuum pack on his back, but whatever it was I assumed it was used to power a lot of the devices that he had on him. He had goggles on top his head, and on his left shoulder were small body cameras while there was an electrical outlet on his right. It was funny how he had a small microphone connected with the goggles, making him look like a nerdy gamer, but then he also had a pair of headphones around his neck that usually the "cool" kids used. The outlet was on one of a many straps that went across his chest, each with pockets holding who knows what type of device within them. He even had a utility belt with even more tools and devices within the pockets that had been strapped onto the belt. Just like the previous two turtles, he also dressed like a samurai. He wore a purple bandana that matched the bandage wraps on his right shoulder. On the opposite shoulder he wore a shoulder pad. He sported an elbow pad that went all the way up to his wrist on his right arm, and on his left side he had an elbow pad and a control panel glove. He wore very faded purplish-grey shorts, but the flaps were solar panels, he was literally wearing solar panels. That's awesome! Like, who does that? So far he was winning in being my favorite of the four based on looks alone. I noticed that he also wore knee pads, a shin guard on his right shin, and boots.  
I hadn't realized how long I had been staring at him, but I had noticed that this whole time he had just been awkwardly staring at the floor.

"Can you talk?"  
He looked up at me with a surprised and somewhat irked look. "Well, yea…"  
I shrugged my shoulders. "Sorry, couldn't tell since you're being so quiet." I gave a small smile, trying to ease the awkward tension. It didn't help though.  
"Well, I'm not exactly sure what to say to the person who snuck into and stole from our home" he said in a serious and sour tone.  
Ouch, but I definitely deserved that. I did steal from them and I pushed them away every time they tried to get the flash drive back, and to top it off I ran away and fought one or more of them.  
A crash came from behind him. He turned around and sighed. "Wait here, please" he groaned. I guess I had a reputation of running away. I was going to stay put in order to gain their trust and show that I wanted to cooperate with them…until I saw a giant brown rat wearing a gold colored robe walking around in a space off to my right. In the room was a round stage like area, but what I hadn't noticed before was an entrance on the side of the risen up space.

I slowly followed him through the opening, but without even turning around he had already sensed my presence. He whipped his tail at me, but I dodged it twice. I put my hands up in defense. "Whoaaa hey, I don't mean any harm I swear! You just look super awesome is all."  
He turned around to face me.  
"Is that your excuse for stealing from my sons? Because it was super awesome? Why did you sneak into our home?"  
I paused, thinking back to that night. "You…you were the presence I felt that night, weren't you?" He nodded. "If you knew I was here, then why did you let me roam around?"  
His brow furrowed. "You seemed innocent and harmless, like you had accidentally stumbled across something you never meant to find, but it seems I was wrong."  
I blushed a bit, beginning to feel embarrassed about the reason why I was now meeting all these people.  
"I'm sorry for stealing from your home. To be completely honest, I found this place by chance and I never meant to bring any sense of danger to you and your…wait did you say they're your sons?"  
He gave a small smile and nodded. "Yes, I raised those four all on my own since they were babies, so they are my sons."  
"Then you're also one of the test subjects from TCRI?"  
"Yes, that is correct." He motioned for me to sit across from him at a small table. I kneeled down and continued the conversation.  
"So, do you guys have names?"  
"Of course, you can call me Splinter. My oldest son is Leonardo, he is the leader of the group."  
"Soooooo the super strict one in blue?"  
He chuckled. "Yes, that is him. The second oldest is Raphael, he has a bit of a temper."  
"Got it, tough guy in red is Raphael."  
"Then we move on to Donatello."  
"Glasses! Right?"  
"That is correct, and the youngest of the group is Michelangelo."  
"The short fun one!"  
The old rat laughed. "I'm glad that you think so. As you can see, his brothers don't always see him as that. Usually they see him more so as the hyper one or the one who knows how to get under your skin. Most of the time they laugh at his silly antics, but in moments where the others want him to be serious, they get irritated by his jokes quite easily." He shook his head. "I love these four with all my heart, but sometimes they can get so out of hand."  
I smiled at him. "Yea, but trust me, life wouldn't be the same without loud and annoying brothers that are always bugging each other and everyone else.  
"Oh, do you have brothers?  
I nodded with a big smile. "Yup! Four to be exact. Three older and one younger. I'm second to last in being the baby of eight, so I'm sure that's why I see your youngest as funny, because that's me a lot of the time in my family, hehe."

As I continued to talk with the older rat, the guiltier I felt for stealing from him and his family. Two of the five seemed really nice, and I'm sure all of them would have been more welcoming if I had handled this whole situation better.

"Umm…I want to apologize again for-"  
"Dad, what are you doing?"  
Leo was standing in the entrance way, and man did he look pissed.  
"Ah my son, I was just talking to…I'm sorry, I never got your name."  
I turned and put my hand out. "It's Sam, Samantha Allan Park." He shook my hand and smiled.  
"Dad" he sounded like he was trying to keep himself calm. "Can Samantha-"  
"Ew, call me Sam, please."  
"…Can Sam please come back with us so we can discuss some things with her?"  
Splinter nodded his head. "I'm actually about to head to bed my son, so please shut the door on your way out. Goodnight my son, and it was nice to meet you Samantha."  
"Likewise sir" I said with a huge smile. I stood up and walked past the turtle, now standing in the middle of the lair.

"What part of don't move don't you understand?"  
The buff turtle looked pissed again.  
I put my hands up in defense. "Look Raph, I'm sorry your dad is awesome and super nice to talk to, it won't happen again."  
"Don't make us go searching for you again or else…how do you know my name?" he growled.  
I smiled and pointed towards the entryway. "Oh your dad told me!" I said with excitement, in an odd way I was starting to feel comfortable around these guys.  
"Wait, what?! Why was she talking to sensei?"  
"Because she snuck away Don, because that's what she does!"  
I grabbed Raph's right arm. "You have a Campbell's soup can on your wrist."  
He yanked his arm back. "So what?"  
I smiled. "That's awesome."  
"HOW?!" The one turtle I hadn't really talked to yet had walked over.  
"Because nobody does that. Who would ever think to cut a soup can and turn it into a metal bracer?"  
"Pshh! Well, he'll never admit this, but he actually got that idea from me, hehe."

I changed my mind, this one was definitely my favorite, since he was funny and actually tried to hold a conversation with me. Michelangelo wore an orange bandana and was noticeably the shortest of his four brothers. He had bright blue eyes just like the strict one. He seemed to be about 5'8, which was the closest to my height of 5'5, which made him a little less intimidating. His muscle size was about the same as Leo's, so again more natural looking. He had on a couple sea shell necklaces with a pair of sunglasses hanging off of them. He had two straps that went across his chest, but it didn't look like they were holding anything at the moment. He wore some bandage wraps around his wrists and knuckles. He was the only one who didn't dress like a samurai and dressed with his own style, wearing a pair of black shorts with very faded orange stripes and a hoodie wrapped around his waist. He wore knee pads and had a shin guard on his left shin. He also wore shoes that had been cut and altered to fit his feet.

"ANYWAY" Leo cut in, and all was silent. "So according to sensei, you're here by chance?" he asked in a peeved tone.  
All four sets of eyes were staring at me.  
I pursed my lips as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the flash drive. I tossed it over to Donnie.  
"Look, I never meant to cause any harm or anything. I just found the cameras and eventually they lead me here. My mind went blank when I got here though, I mean this place is amazing. I didn't know who lived here and I didn't know if I'd ever get to see it again, so I took something that might lead me to learn more about it. That's literally all there is to it."  
"How'd you find the cameras?"  
Now all eyes were on Donnie. "Well?" he asked sternly.  
"I was wearing a pair of glasses with a camera built in, and when I got home I used some Eulerian techniques when editing the film and that's when I saw them."  
"What's that?" Mikey looked confused.  
"A technique that makes really small movements really easy to see."  
He smiled and nodded. "Ahhh, right. Of course." This guy was adorable, pretending like he had any idea what the technique was, but he definitely lightened the mood, in my opinion at least.  
Donnie still seemed upset though. "Fair enough, so how did you deactivate the cameras?"  
"I have a camera detector, you shoot the laser and boom, the camera shuts off."  
The others were silent, and they seemed a bit shocked as they listened to their brother talk. I guess they weren't used to hearing him talk in such a stern tone? At least I'm assuming this is why they were making the faces they were, since he had been silent pretty much the whole time I was here until now.

"If you happened to be here by chance, why did you keep booting me out every time I hacked into the computer you were using?"  
"Like I said, I wanted to learn more about what I had found, not that you really let me get that far though."  
I was hoping that maybe he would ease up some now that I had given the drive back to him, but he still seemed tense.  
"How do you know all that stuff anyway?"  
I gave him a puzzled look. "What stuff exactly?"  
"Everything." He spoke in more of a sour tone now. "About the camera techniques, how to deactivate my cameras, the codes that prevented me from hacking into whatever computer you were using, and now jumping off of trucks, defending yourself in the dark, and accurately throwing manhole covers when only taking a second to locate your target."  
"Oh!" I had completely forgotten about that. "Who was that?"  
"Meeee!" Mikey raised and waved his hand around like he was a child waiting to be called on.  
I gritted my teeth and sent him an apologetic look.  
"I'm so sorry about that. I panicked and just did what I could to defend myself."  
He shook his head.  
"No problem bruh, besides, your kick was a lot worse" he said as he rubbed his cheek.  
I slapped my hands to my cheeks.  
"OH MY GOD THAT WAS YOU TO?!" Seriously? How did I keep attacking the nice one?!  
"I'm so, so sorry about that. I really am."  
"It's all good, honestly I think you scared my brothers more than you did me. Especially when you started flinging bricks at Leo."  
Ah, so I was right about that. I turned toward the oldest turtle.  
"Sorry for that as well, and thanks I guess for not hitting me to hard. Or at least it didn't hurt as much as the first punch."  
"Don't thank me, I just did what needed to be done. Oh, and here's your stuff by the way."  
He threw me my back pack. I looked inside and sighed with relief when I saw that my tonfa, phone, skateboard, everything was still settled in its original place within the bag. My ring was also in a zippered pouch on the inside of the bag.

"So what are we going to do with her?"  
Leo sighed. "We're not going to DO anything Raph, we got what we needed and everything is fine."  
"Fine? She's seen us now Leo, and I'm sure she's going to go tell people!"  
"Can I intervene?" I asked as I raised my hand. They both shot me a dirty look, but stayed silent.  
"I'm not going to tell anyone, because that could be dangerous for both of our families, and I don't want to cause any more harm than I already have. That and then people would want to ask questions, and then I won't be able to ask my own questions."  
Raph made a puzzled expression. "What questions?"  
"Why does he have swords?" I said as I pointed towards Leo.  
"Because we're ninjas!" shouted Mikey.  
I was confused. "We're?"  
"Yea, as in 'we are' all ninjas."  
"Then why do only one of you have weapons?"  
"Oh we all do! You've seen Leo's katanas, Raph has sai's, Donnie has a bo staff, and I have these bad boys!" as he pulled out two nunchucks from behind him. So that's what his straps were for, he carried them behind him. And that's what was in Raph's holsters, and I assumed that Donnie's bo staff was hiding in one of his millions of pockets.

"Gosh Mikey, why don't you just tell her every secret we have, because that wouldn't be stupid in any way whatsoever!" Wow, yelling must be this guy's hobby.  
"Dude what's your problem? She's just curious about us, why is that such a bad thing? We said we wanted to talk to her right? Well, she's talking now!"  
"Yea, AFTER she attacked you, TWICE! And then she tried to hurt Leo! How can you just ignore all of that!"  
"Because we scared her and that's why she attacked!"  
"No, you messed up and freaked her out!"  
"Yea, and everyone apologized so everything's good now!"

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched the space between his two brothers get smaller and their anger levels grow higher. "*sigh* I can only do this for so long this late at night."  
"Don't worry, I'll help this time" his nerdy brother reassured.

The two went to break up and calm their brothers. As they did this, my eye caught something orange from across the room. I walked across to the other side of the room and then crossed the small bridge that lead to the eating area. Sitting on top of one the tables was a very unique looking skateboard. It was a bit longer and wider than normal, but if it was being used by one of these guys then of course this size would be needed. It was black and orange, so I was pretty sure I knew who it belonged to. There were a few wires taped to the bottom of it, and there were four rods with wheels at the bottom. These rods could move up and down with the board, making it easier to land and push up off the ground. It even had rockets on the sides as well, this thing was incredible! I laid my hand on the top and was shocked at what I felt. Skateboards were made out of wood, but this one was made out of metal. I inspected the board for a bit and after analyzing the materials it was made of, I picked the board up and lifted it over my head.

Just as I did this, the four brothers turned around to see what I was doing, and all their eyes went wide. Mikey was terrified.  
"Wait, nonono!" he shouted as I swiftly brought the board down towards the edge of the table. Just as I had suspected, not one scratch was made on the board.  
Mikey ran over and snatched the board away.  
"DUDE! What was that for?!" He then cradled the board in his arms like it was his child. "It's okay, it's okay" he said and then looked back at me. "WHY!?"  
"Your board is made out of flat carbon steel" I said with wide eyes and a huge smile.  
"Um…sure?"  
"*sigh* Yes it is. What's your point?" Donnie had obviously built this device, and also was very upset with what I had just done to his creation.  
"That means it would take something stronger than steel to break this, that's incredible that you could make that down here."  
He gave me a brooding expression and raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "You know about carbon steel?"  
I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, a little bit, since I have my own." I reached behind me and pulled a rod from the middle strap on the outside of my backpack. I pressed a button and the rod widened on both sides. Unlike Mikey's skateboard which was built like a traditional skateboard, mine had been built more so like a rip stick, but the platform for my feet did go all the way across from one side to the other like a regular board. Also like a rip stick, the wheels were underneath the front and back parts of the board rather than on the sides. Like Mikey's board though, mine also had rods that made getting on and off the ground easier.

Both turtle's jaws dropped when I showed them my board.  
"Whoa! Can I hold it? I promise I won't do what you just did to mine!"  
I laughed. "Yea of course" and I tossed him the board.  
Donnie inspected the device as well. "How did you get the design to be so small?" he asked in amazement.  
"Hehe simple" as I held up my hand and wiggled my fingers "I have small hands" I said with a smile. "Plus I had to make it decently thin and light or else my tiny feet couldn't control the board well, that and it would be pretty difficult to carry."  
For the first time that night, the quiet turtle actually made a faint smile. "And how did you learn about this?"  
"One of my older brother's friends had some project type thing and at the time my brother had to take me with him pretty much everywhere, so I got to work on and keep one of their main prototypes."

"Looks cool bruh, I think it should have more color though."  
I raised my brow at him in a comical way. "What? A girl can't have a solid black and green skateboard?"  
He rolled his eyes playfully. "I didn't mean it that way, I just like brighter colors is all."  
Raph was standing off to the side by himself during this time, obviously wanting nothing to do with the conversation.  
Leo came over and took the board from his brother, curious as to what everyone was looking at. "The green symbols, what language is that?"  
"Korean. Half my family is Korean, so I wrote all my siblings names in Hangul."  
He looked at me with a puzzled face. "You're mixed?"  
I chuckled. "Naw. Four of my siblings are adopted. They went through…a rough time at home, to put it lightly, so when I was eight my parents adopted them."  
"Wait…so you're one of eight?"  
"YUP!" I said as I threw my hands up in the air in excitement.  
"Dannnnngggg! And I thought four siblings was a lot!" Mikey shouted.  
Mikey took the board back from his brother, took one last good look at it, and then tossed it back to me. I grabbed his left wrist right after he did so, looking over the marking that was there. It looked like a cursive version of his nick name.  
I gave him a fixed expression. "You have a tattoo?"  
"Yup! Two actually." He pointed up towards the top of his left shoulder where there was a much larger tattoo of what seemed like a black turtle shell. How I hadn't seen it until now I'll never know.  
"How do you have these?"  
He then pointed over to the second oldest and whispered "he practiced for years until he mastered the skill. I've had these for a few years now. You have any?"  
I rapidly shook my head. "Nope! No thank you."  
"Aww what's wrong with tattoos?"  
"Nothing, they're just not my thing. I don't see anything wrong with them, I just don't care for me getting one. I think certain one's look nice on other people though, but being brutally honest, I don't like sleeves. I personally think that's going a bit overboard. But hey, to each their own, you know?"  
He nodded. "I gotcha."

"ENOUGH!"  
Raph was fuming. This whole situation seemed to annoy him.  
"Why are we socializing with the thief?"  
"Whoaaa, you have one to!" I said as I pointed toward his right shoulder.  
"STOP. CHANGING. THE SUBJECT."  
"Okay, okay. Sorry, all of this is just a lot to take in. Plus you guys are probably way older than me so I'm sure my childish ways are probably irky to you."  
Mikey laughed. "How old do you think we are?"  
"I don't know, like early twenties?"  
Leo and Donnie both had to hold back from chuckling at my comment, Mikey on the other hand burst out laughing.  
"HA! We're only fifteen! Oh, but we can still have, adult conversations."  
"Wait…I'm older than you guys? That's no fair, you're all way taller than me!"  
"Aww" he mocked and pat my head "Well when you become a mutant, you can be tall like us!"  
"Gee, thanks." I said with a joking smile.

"Hey, I noticed your board didn't have rockets, why not?"  
I shrugged. "We never needed them, we were just making a modified version of a regular board."  
"Well! Next time you're here we totally have to change that, because mine can get some serious air and-"  
"NO."  
Mikey dead panned and looked at Raph. "What now?"  
"She's not coming back" he snarled.  
My gaze dropped to the floor. I had been so excited and interested in these guys that I had forgotten about reality and that I probably wouldn't be allowed back here.

"Wait, what?" Mikey was a mix of confused and upset.  
"SHE. CANNOT. COME BACK. How else can I say it so that you understand?"  
"But…but…"  
"Here, I'll say it in Spanish. NO!"  
Mikey turned toward his oldest brother. "…Leo?"  
He sighed.  
"Look Mikey, it's not safe for any of us if she keeps coming back here. She seems innocent-"  
"Pshh, okay." Raph mumbled.  
"BUT, what if someone catches her coming down here? We don't want the Foot finding our home, especially when we just relocated only a matter of months ago."

"You guys were attacked by the Foot?" I asked.  
Leo closed his eyes, annoyed that he just released another private piece of information about their lives.

Mikey was still caught up on the fact that their new guest would never be allowed to visit them again.  
"Donnie?"  
He rubbed his hand behind his head. "Mikey, she's a human. There's no way she could hang out with us without there being a huge risk of someone seeing and then going after her, or her exposing where our new home is and then someone coming after us. It increases every possibility of another Foot clan attack occurring here."  
"Yea but-"  
"Its fine" I butted in. He looked at me with worried eyes, so I put on my best fake smile, which at this point in life I had mastered. "Your brother's are right, plus I really have no right asking to stay after how and why I ended up getting to meet you guys." I could feel the sting from Raph's glares as I said this.

"Hey guys I have good news in regards to your thiieeee uhh…"  
Just then, a young woman who seemed to be in her mid to late twenties at the earliest entered the room. She was about my height with black hair and green eyes. She was wearing a yellow jacket over a grey t-shirt and jeans. Where the heck did she come from? And why was she allowed down here?

I pursed my lips together and made a gloomy expression. "Oh I get it, only the pretty girls get to hang out down here. Got it, message received" as I made the 'O.K.' symbol with my hands.  
The three oldest all groaned in annoyance.  
"Oh my gosh" as Raph made fists.  
"Seriously?" Leo was trying to remain calm.  
Donnie just looked around the room, not sure what to do or say.

The woman walked over to me. "Um, hi. You are?"  
I made a dull face. "Hi. I'm the biggest loser on the beach. They buried me in the sand and forgot me. What happened to you?"  
She looked confused, but still answered. "April O'Neil. Are you-"  
"She's not with us, in fact she's leaving" Raph said sourly.

"Oh, I thought you looked familiar. Nice to meet you" I said as I put my hand in front of me. She shook hands, but continued to give me a confused and freaked out expression.  
"Hey angel cakes! Meet our thief, Sam! Donnie tracked her down through security camera footage and from her school's attendance and academic records!"  
"Ahhh, so that's how he did it. I'll have to keep all that in mind next time."  
"There won't be a next time because you're leaving!"  
Mikey's brow furrowed in anger. "Dude chill!"

"OKAY!" Leo had had enough with this whole situation. He then turned towards me. "Look Sam, you even admitted that it's not safe for any of us if you keep coming here. Everything was straightened out, we got the drive back, and you apologized, so we're all good now. Thank you for cooperating with us, and now that we've all formally met, not really but whatever, I'm going to KINDLY" As he glared at his younger hot headed brother " ask you to leave now."

I nodded and made a small smile. "I understand, and thanks again, since you guys could have been way worse and way more violent in handling the situation, but you weren't. At least most of you weren't. Thanks for that. And thanks for letting me talk to you guys for a bit. And again I'm sorry for scaring you guys…and then for running, and then for attacking a couple of you."

I turned towards Mikey who had a depressed look on his face and sent him a small wave. "Nice meeting you" I said with a huge smile.  
"You to." He waved back and smiled, though his fake smile was extremely obvious.

I then went over to the entrance on the back wall, the way I had entered the room the first time I had ever been here. I got my board out and began to roll away as I reached into my bag for my phone so that I could use GPS to get back to my home. I couldn't believe that I would never get to see these guys again. For years I had been waiting for something amazing to happen, and when something incredibly awesome was finally and randomly thrown my way, it was ripped away from me just as quickly as it had been thrown. I could tell that my presence wasn't wanted there though. Red made it extremely obvious, but I could tell that the other two didn't really want me around either. At least Mikey was nice. I wish that I could at least have hung out with him one more time, I mean it's been so long since I was able to talk to someone so comfortably. But oh well, I guess this week long adventure has come to a close.  
_

Mikey stood there in amazement.  
"Someone finds us, accepts us, and is interested in us…and we basically just said screw you and kicked her out…"  
"It's about time to" Raph said with an evil grin as he headed towards his room, happy that the girl had finally left their home.  
Mikey began to make fists, furious with the way his brother had been acting towards the girl.

Leo sighed. "I'll catch you up on everything April" as he nodded towards the eatery. The two then sat down as he explained everything that had happened that night.

Donnie looked over towards his younger brother who was now sitting on the couch trying to calm himself. He walked over and sat down next to him, putting a hand his brother's shoulder.  
"Look Mikey, I didn't want to be too harsh or rude to her, but we still can't trust that girl. She had incredible accuracy when she aimed that cover at you, she was chucking bricks at Leo like they were stones, she owns a pair of tonfa that she can handle better than an average person, she can compete with me when it comes to codes and hacking, and she even jumped off of the van and onto the ladder on the back of a truck. She's obviously not a normal girl and we don't know why. She could have been putting on an act this whole time and really she could be working for the Foot. I doubt it, but you never know. It's just too risky to get close to her."

Mikey looked up at his older brother and nodded. "Yea. I know. It just sucks…"  
Donnie stood up and stretched. "Don't worry little bro, by morning I'm sure you'll have your mind wrapped around something new and totally crazy and you'll already have forgotten all about her." He smiled and pat his brother on the shoulder. "I'm calling it a night bro, see you in the morning."

Mikey also stood up and walked off towards his own bedroom. He kept a smile on his face until his bedroom door was shut. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't forget about the girl he had just met. She seemed nice and easy to talk to. There were many things that seemed off about her, but that made him think of her even more. He tried to think of ways that he could see her again. He sat up quickly, realizing that Donnie might still have the info from her school on his computers.

He got up and tip toed back to the lair. He peeked around the corner to see if anyone had been awake. April must have gone home and everyone else must have been asleep. Mikey snuck over to the collage of screens and played around some.

"Aha!" He pulled up some of the school footage of the girl. As he watched the videos, his smile slowly faded. In every one of these videos the girl was alone. While everyone else was talking and laughing with their group of friends, she was always sitting by herself. How could the girl who was just laughing and cracking jokes with him a minute ago look so depressed and miserable in almost every video? Eventually there were some clips where she was talking to some people, but once the class or club ended, she was always left alone again. He then looked through files until he found the one with her address on it. He had to see this girl again, something was off about her and he needed to figure out what it was.


	7. Chapter 7

**So this chapter has a few references to shows and people and things that Sam will state she is a fan of, I own NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OC. Any brands or names I mention DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Thank you and enjoy ^-^**

Chapter #7

It was about 8:00 that Saturday night and Mikey was patiently waiting for a good time for him to leave the lair. He wanted to see the girl from the night previous as soon as possible, but he had a hunch that his brothers wouldn't let him leave so easily. He had looked up events that were happening nearby so that he had an accurate alibi as to where he was going. He was just happy that it had been a pretty warm winter to spring season that year since the event he was pretending to go to was held outside, his brothers wouldn't have believed he would go if it was freezing outside. He had been sitting on the couch which was right by one of the exits. This spot was also facing the backs of Donnie who had been sitting in his skateboard chair in front of his collage of monitors, and of Leo who was taking care of his katana's at the eatery across the room. Mikey left the t.v. on as he slowly stood up and walked towards the exit way when suddenly he heard "and where do you think you're going?" He froze and then turned around to face Leo, who actually hadn't moved at all. Sometimes having ninjas as brothers really sucked.  
Mikey tried to stay calm and collected as he spoke. "Well, I read online that there's a movie set that was set up downtown earlier today, and I wanted to see what was going on. I wanted to see if I could get a sneak peek at whatever the new movie is going to be. That and I wanted to look at the hot actress babes" he said with a playful smile and two thumbs up.  
Leo paused. "Donnie."  
"On it" as the turtle began typing away on his computer. Within a couple minutes he had found a page from a local online newspaper company that had uploaded an article about a movie set being set up in New York. "Yup, there's a movie set downtown. The article talking about it is right here." He turned to face his eldest brother, nodding his head to state that their youngest brother's statement was true.  
Leo pursed his lips together and then faced the baby of the group. "Alright, so you're going by yourself?"  
Mikey nodded. "Yea, I just don't want to stay cooped up at home on a Saturday night y'know?"  
Leo continued to stare at his brother sternly. "You're going to stay in the shadows right?"  
"Of course."  
"So you're going to do everything to prevent yourself from being seen?"  
"Like always."  
"And you won't stay out to late?"  
"I would never!"  
"And you'll contact us if something goes wrong?"  
"YESSSS LEO! I'll be a perfect little angel" he said in a sarcastic tone. "And I'll make sure to stay away from strangers, and I'll look both ways before I cross the street, and-"

"Alright I get it." Even though he knew his brother was playfully mocking him, Leo still loved his brother's dorkiness and had to fight to not laugh at his brother's teasing. Donnie on the other hand had cracked as Leo heard him letting out some small chuckles from across the room.  
"Alright, see you dudes later. DEUCES!" And with that, Mikey pulled his board off his back and rolled on out of the lair.

Once it was quiet and it was known that their brother was out of hearing range, Donnie spun around in his chair to face his eldest brother. Just as he was about to speak, Raph came storming in from the entry way that Mikey had just used as an exit.  
"What's this bs about Mikey going out on his own?!"  
Leo sighed. "Raph, all of us are allowed to go out on our own once it's dark out."  
Raph glared back. "No shit, but why are we allowing him out on his own NOW? After what just happened yesterday? It's obvious he's going to meet that girl!"  
"Oh I know, and I'm wondering how dumb he thinks we are. That or he just doesn't care that we know where he's going."  
"Wait, you knew? Then why did you let him leave?"  
"Because he's the baby of four teenagers. As the baby he has become the most peaceful of us four, and as a teenager he's curious about everything, which then leads him to be rebellious. I'm pretty confident he knows we know exactly where he's going, but he's going to push the limit as far as he can. Donnie?"  
He nodded. "I agree 110% Mikey's smarter than he acts, so like you said, he's going to go as far with this as he possibly can."  
Raph had a mix of furry and worry building up inside him. "So we're just allowing this? We're not even going to try and stop this? We still don't know anything about this girl. What if yesterday was just an act and she acts like a jerk towards him tonight, he would break into a million pieces! He would be crushed! Or worse, what if she really is working for the Foot? What if she turns him in while we're all just sitting around relaxing? You two might be okay with this but I'm not." Leo stopped him before he could turn and walk out of the room.

"Raph wait." The furious turtle paused and listened. "Look, we're all his older brothers and we're all worried about him, hell I don't know when we aren't. But we also have to trust him and give him a chance. Trust me when I say I feel the same way I do now as when we let him go out on his own for the first time. At the same time, I don't want to lose my brother because we didn't allow him to make his own decisions and give him a chance to learn lessons on his own."  
Raph paused for a bit, taking in Leo's words. He then turned towards Donnie, waiting for his take on the situation.  
Donnie put his hands up in defense. "Couldn't have said it better myself."  
Raph hated to admit it, really he HATED admitting defeat in anyway, but he knew Leo was right. He knew that Mikey deserved the right to grow up and learn on his own like the rest of them had, but what worried him was that Mikey might be blind to a criminals tricks because of him being to kind which could lead to him getting hurt, physically and emotionally. But in certain scenarios, maybe his youngest brother needed to experience this pain at the same time. God being an older brother sucked at times like this, especially when you're supposed to be the badass of the group yet you're getting so worried about your sensitive baby brother.

Raph calmed himself and turned around. He then began to walk back into the lair and then turned right, heading towards the far right wall where his workout area was located.  
"Fine. But if anything bad happens" he turned his head towards Leo "then you better be able to fix it."  
Leo took his brothers words in, praying that everything would be fine if they backed off and didn't restrict Mikey, leading him to soon getting bored of this rebellious behavior and eventually stopping it altogether. As he was thinking to himself, he heard a faint repeat of everything Raph had said whilst he had been in the room, followed by chuckles from Donatello.  
"Heh, next time he packs on me, I'll have my revenge."  
"DELETE IT NOW OR I'LL BASH YOUR FACE IN!"  
Without hesitation, Donnie sprinted out of the lair and into the hallways within the sewers with Raph not far behind him.  
Leo chuckled and shook his head. "One baby brother leaves, and the next one in line takes his place."

Sam was drying her hair in the bathroom down the hall from her room. She decided that tonight was going to be another mellow night filled with video games and graphic novels, so she had showered and gotten ready for bed early so that whenever she was ready she could just crash. She was still pretty depressed about being kicked out of the lair the previous night, that and she was still very sore. Once the adrenaline had stopped kicking in, the next morning she had woken up miserably from being sore. Her foot was swollen pretty badly and her face had some pretty bad bruises, but luckily she could cover that up with a crap ton of make-up. While she was brushing her hair she heard the alarms go off from the sensors near her window, someone was breaking into her room.  
She grabbed her pocket knife which she had left on the side of the sink and ran out of the room. When she got to her room, she was shocked at what she saw. Standing right by the window was Michelangelo, the youngest of the turtles she had met the other night. Once he saw that she had entered the room he threw his hands up in defense. She pulled her phone out from her pocket and silenced the alarm.

He lowered his arms and stared at her. "Uh, hey? Hehe."  
She gave him a small smile. "So, how long have you been spying on me at school?"  
His eyes went wide. "How did you know I was watching videos of you at school?"  
"I didn't." She smiled as she shut her bedroom door. "Hey can you shut the window behind you?"  
Mikey stared at her in disbelief. "Dude, so not cool."  
"Hey, you climbed through the window, so you can shut it."  
"That's not what I meant" he said as he turned around and shut the windows and then the shades.

Sam walked over and sat on her bed. "So, what has caused you to break into my room tonight good sir?" she said playfully. She nodded her head towards a bean bag chair that was along the same wall as the windows.  
He sat down and sighed. "I just, I just wanted to apologize for how my brother's and I treated you yesterday. You seem really nice and you didn't deserve that."  
Same was a bit shocked at how serious he was acting, especially after seeing how goofy he was the night previous.  
"Look, uh how do you want me to address you?"  
"Oh, ladies call me Mikey."  
Sam laughed lightly at hearing him using the plural of the word lady, since his brothers had made it clear that they've never met anyone except for that lady April.  
"Okay Mikey, I really appreciate you coming up here to talk to me, but you don't have to apologize. I wasn't exactly friendly towards you guys either and that's how all this started. But thanks for being the nice one and allowing me to share my side of the story as well."  
Mikey rubbed his hand on the back of his head. "Sadly I'm the one that kind of ruined everything, since I'm the one who slipped and made you run. My brothers were actually going to try and talk peacefully with you if you would have allowed, but because of me you ran away, and then Raph knocked you out, and then you kicked me which scared the shit out of the others, and then Leo knocked you out and everything just kept spiraling out of control."

"It's all good, I mean I'm the one that started the whole thing by stealing from you guys, so I completely understand them acting the way they did, and again I'm sorry for kicking you. How's your face?"  
Mikey lightly tapped his face where he had gotten hit. "This? Don't worry, that stopped hurting about 20 minutes or so after it happened." His smile then turned to a frown as he looked at the girls face. "I see your wounds are more noticeable though."  
Sam gave his a big smile. "Don't worry, it feels a lot better than it did earlier today, so already it's getting better. Plus this one is easier to cover up."  
"So what does that mean about your foot then?"  
"Sadly that one is still a bit bruised, but it's slowly starting to feel better."

They both gave each other small smiles, each happy that the other was feeling better from the injuries they had received from the night previous.

 **Theme: Taru-"I Wish You Were Here" audio  
Belle Epoque-"May" audio**

"So, do your brothers know that you're here?"  
"Welllll, yes and no."  
I raised an eyebrow, questioning what this meant.  
"I told them I was going to observe a movie set that's set up downtown, but I know they know that was a total lie. They definitely knew where I was going."  
"Wow, lying to your older brothers. Welcome to the club."  
He chuckled. "You lie to your older brothers?"  
"Mostly one in specific, but that's because I live with him. But I've lied to all of them at least once. I mean hey, it's not my fault that they won't let me do anything just because 'they've lived longer than me so they know better' and all that crap" she said in a mocking tone.  
"THANK YOU! That's literally one of the worst reasons to tell someone not to do something! Like Raph and Leo went out one night and when they got back they told me that I didn't need to go out on my own because 'nothing happened and I would just fine it boring.' He mocked. "Like give me a break."  
"Ugh, that one is even worse!"

"So, how old are your seven other siblings?"  
Sam paused for a moment, using her fingers to count. "Okay, Jamie should be 27, Amber should be 25, Jay is 23, Brian should be 21, Nick should be 20, Haley should be 18, and Chuck should 14."  
"Wait, they 'should' be those ages?" he questioned.  
"Hey! You try and remember seven people's birthdays and ages and then you can come complain to me!"  
He laughed. "So is Jay the brother you live with? Since he's the only one you said without the word 'should' after his name."  
"Yup! That browski is my roommate."  
"What about everyone else?"  
"It's…a really long and complicated story. Everyone is okay and all, we've just gone through some rough times. In the end I ended up living with my oldest brother, but overall everything is good. Heh, if you guys have any concerns about why I was able to fight the way I did, talk to Jay. He's the one who signed me up for self-defense classes."  
"Ahhhh! That explains a whole lot!" he joked. "What made him want you to do that though?"  
"Are you kidding me? You're a ninja who has fought Shredder, I'm sure you know that as great as New York is, there's also a lot of danger within this city as well."  
He chuckled. "Fair enough, hey is that Glenn on your shirt?" He pointed to the shirt she had on. The shirt had the word "Claimed" printed across the front with a picture of Glenn from The Walking Dead.

Sam's face was filled with joy. "Yea, he's my favorite character, with Darryl following very closely behind him. You watch the show?"  
Mikey was ecstatic. "Heck yea! Right now my two favorites are tied between Carol and Abraham. Abraham is tough and has the best catch phrases ever, but man Carol is one of the most badass characters ever! Did you see how she saved everyone from Terminus?"

"That was insane! She literally blew up a ton of walkers and just walked in and rescued everyone. I've had a love hate feeling towards her character for a while now, but she officially won me back over after that performance!"

Sam couldn't believe this conversation was actually being held. She NEVER got to rant or fangirl over anything ever, but finally she had found someone who had the same interests as her, and she soon would learn that this one show was just the beginning. Mikey noticed some graphic novels on a shelving unit nearby and gasped out loud, rolled out of the bean bag chair, and began looking through each one.

"Dude, you read manga to?! Where have you been my whole life!?"  
"Says the guy who lives underground in the sewers."  
"….HAHA!" he laughed sarcastically as he still looked through the novels. "Do you watch the anime as well?"  
"Yea, I enjoy the anime more, but the manga comes out so much sooner. Like Attack On Titan is literally killing me right now!" She said as she flopped down on her bed.  
He groaned. "Tell me about it! Like all the fight scenes with the beast titan, and we now know who in the group is the armored and colossus titans, and even who a third titan is! It would be so awesome to see all of that in the anime, but it's taking forever!"

He then noticed some video games next to the stack of graphic novels. He looked through the stack to see what she had and was shocked to see that they both played a lot of the same games. "Hey, which of these is your favorite?"  
Sam sat back up to see what he was talking about. "Kingdom Hearts. As shocking as that might sound, that series has always been my favorite. My younger brother and I got soooo into that series, it's crazy that we're STILL waiting for KH3, but hopefully that just means that the wait will be worth it."  
Mikey chuckled. "Of course your favorite is the one game I know nothing about."  
Sam's eyes went wide. "Do you know about Final Fantasy?"  
"Yes."  
"Do you know about Disney characters?"  
"Yes."  
"Combine the two, and you get Kingdom Hearts!" she said with a smile as she excitedly threw her hands up in the air. "You have time to play?"  
Mikey smiled, thrilled that Sam had basically just asked him to stay longer. "Yea I have time."  
"Great! Hand me the game and go grab a controller. I just got one of the latest editions where they've combined a bunch of the past games from different systems and merged them all onto one.

The two played for hours and hours, not realizing how long they had actually been playing the game until they had finally beaten all of the original and remastered version of the first KH game.

"Hey, you have a curfew?" she asked him as she looked behind her at her alarm clock beside her bed.  
"Ummm, not exactly, as long as I don't stay out to late. Why?"  
"Because it's 2 in the morning."  
"UGHHH NOOOOO!" He quickly got up and grabbed his board which he had laid along the wall since after a while it made sitting in the bean bag chair rather uncomfortable.

Sam looked over and forced a smile, assuming that this would officially be the last time that she would ever get to see the orange sporting turtle.  
"Well thanks for stopping by." She tried to think of things to say without sounding desperate. She had loved his company, something that she rarely ever had in general, and the fact that she could talk so easily around him because of their multiple interests made her enjoy his company even more. She didn't want this to be known though, she didn't want to seem clingy or annoying, but she really would have loved to have hung out with him again. "Um, if you ever want to see how the rest of the series plays out then my windows always open, hehe" she said nervously.

Mikey deadpanned and stared at her with wide eyes. "You're okay if I come back?"  
"Yea of course, I don't get visitors often, so this was really fun" she said with an honest smile.  
Mikey then thought back to the video footage Donnie had hacked into from the high school and remembered how lonely the girl looked, and then realized that she had done nothing but smile ever since she entered the room hours ago.  
"Ummm" Sam interrupted his thoughts. "I mean understand if you're busy though, I don't want you to feel like you have to come back or anything, and-"  
"I'll be back" he said with a smile. "But if it's ever a bad time then just let me know. Kay?"  
She smiled back and made an 'O.K' symbol with her hand.  
"Oh, just a heads up, knock on the window next time so that the alarm doesn't go off. And if the blinds are shut, then just give me a sec and then I'll let you in."  
Mikey nodded. "Got it, knock on the window and no peeping. Understood! You free tomorrow?"  
"Yup, homework is done and I study earlier in the day. Same time?"  
He pointed at her with enthusiasm. "Same time. Well, see you tomorrow then." And with that, he opened the window, ran across the walkway, and jumped onto his board, the rockets on the sides helping allow him to glide down to the ground.

Sam walked over and shut the window and re-set the alarm. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop smiling. For the first time in years she had felt a happiness that had been stolen from her a long while ago. Besides for Jay who was rarely ever home, she never got to just talk and hangout with someone the way she had with Mikey that night. And he wanted to come back, that's the part that amazed her the most. Everyone else in the world had cast her out and wanted nothing to do with her, and the only time anyone ever approached her was to ask for a favor of some sort. But Mikey had taken the time to find her and then took the time to actually sit down and talk to her. As Sam turned off the lights and crawled under her covers, she tried to fight to think of something else besides Michelangelo so that when she woke up the next morning her brother wouldn't question her as to why she couldn't stop smiling. He would excitedly question her and then he would freak out if he discovered it was because of a boy. Eventually Sam fell asleep with a small smile still displayed across her face. She just couldn't get over the fact that for two days in a row she would get to hang out with a new friend.

 **So if you're still reading my story up to this point, I just want to say thank you for continuing to give my story a chance, and also thank you for being so patient. I wanted to be uploading chapters quicker than I have been, but some day's life is busier than others. But to those who are still reading, thank you so much. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can improve then I'm always up for kind constructive criticism**


	8. Chapter 8

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #8

Sam hadn't realized what time it was when she heard a knock on her window. She was in front of her desk where her t.v. sat when to her left at the window was a smiling Michelangelo. A smile also began to grow on her face as she gave him the O.K. symbol and he opened the window. He opened the window and climbed on through, leaning his skateboard against an open space along the wall.  
"Hey toots, you forget about me already?"  
She snickered. "Right, because an almost 6 foot turtle is so easy to forget."  
"Well you're the one who left the window closed."  
"Not because I forgot about you, I just lost track of time."  
"Mhm, right, I see how it is" he teased. "What are you listening to?"  
"Oh, the song playing right now? It's called "Obsession" by G-Dragon."  
"And that would be?"  
Sam gave him a wicked smile. "See, if I tell you, then that means you have to allow me to rant on and fangirl for a while, as in I can't just simply say who he is, you'll have to listen to the whole story."  
Mikey put his fingers on his chin, jokingly questioning the situation. "Hmmmm, I guess I have the time to listen to your rant."  
Sam's eyes went wide. "REALLY?!"  
"Really" he smiled.  
Sam then went on to tell Mikey everything she knew about the singer Big Bang, the music group he was a member of. She told him all she knew and even showed him many of their music videos, which eventually lead to her showing him many of their funny moment videos. Within that same hour, Mikey had quickly become a fan of the group. He and his brothers loved listening to new groups and types of music and experimenting with what they did and didn't like, and right now he definitely liked this group.  
"So, do you like older groups and songs? Since according to this Wikipedia page, the album with this song came out in 2009."  
"Well, with this album specifically I just love a lot of the songs and the uniqueness to them, like it's hard to believe that these songs came out in 09. But I'll honestly admit that I'm all over the place when it comes to knowing songs, groups, and individual members and who and what belongs where. I'm a fan of some groups who have been around for a while, but I'm also a fan of some more 'recent' groups. Like I love Super Junior who debuted in 2005, but lately I've been focusing on BTS a lot more than anyone else."  
"I guess you'll introduce me to those groups another day then?"  
Sam smiled, if he held true to his comment, then that meant there would be more days where the two would be hanging out. "Yea haha, I don't want my fangirling to scare you away so soon."  
"Well, how about I introduce you to a group that I'm a fan of then?"  
"Alright, sounds fair. I've done my fangirling, now you show me who you fanboy over."  
He laughed. "Since you've introduced me to an Asian group, I'll continue that trend." He currently was sitting on the bean bag chair which he had moved closer to the bed as the two had been watching and dancing to music videos that Sam was streaming on her television. Sam tossed her phone down to Mikey who began typing, and soon a music video popped up, one that ironically was familiar to Sam.  
"Oh, I know this song!"  
"NO WAY! You listen to One Ok Rock?!"  
"Not religiously, but I know some songs, this one being my favorite."  
The two then sang along with and danced to "The Beginning" by One Ok Rock, followed by more partying to multiple other songs by the same group.

"This is awesome!" Sam then plugged her phone in as the battery was getting low. "No one EVER has the same music interests as me, and when I show them the music I like, they just brush it off like it's horrible just because it's in another language."  
"Well not this guy!" he said with excitement. "I'll give anything a shot!" He then looked over at the television and noticed that the DVD player had the words "PAUSE" across it. "Hey Sam, what were you doing before I got here?"  
She looked in the same direction he was. "I was going to start watching the beginning of a new movie that I've been dying to see."  
"What movie?"  
"Naruto: The Last Movie."  
Mikey gasped and clapped his hands to his cheeks. "You have it on DVD?! Is it subbed or dubbed?!"  
"Dubbed."  
"HOW DID YOU GET IT?! I've wanted to watch it but I wanted to watch it on t.v. and not on a computer screen."  
She laughed. "I put in a request at the library forever ago and finally it was my turn to take it home."  
"Can…can we watch it now?" he asked timidly.  
"Oh my god yes! Like I would love to watch it with someone else. I was going to secretly watch it by myself and pretend I was watching it for the first time once I finally got to watch it with Jay, but this would be way more fun!"  
"Sweet!" he shouted as he ran over to the bed, halting right before he was about to leap onto it.  
Sam tilted her head in confusion. "What's wrong? I just showered a few hours ago."  
He rapidly shook his head. "No that's not why I stopped you smell fine! Just, I didn't want to just sit on your bed or assume that I'm allowed to or anything and I just don't want to be rude and…yea."

Sam gave him a blank face and then goofily scooted over, leaving an open space on the other side of the bed. She then put her left arm out and raised her eyebrows at him.  
He stared at her in disbelief. "…Me?"  
She gave him a puzzled look with a smile. "Who else? Just take your shoes off."  
"What's wrong with my shoes?"  
"They touch the ground."  
"So?"  
"I don't want dirt on my bed!" she laughed.  
He shrugged. "Fair enough" he said as he kicked off his shoes and sat down next to her.

The two then watched the movie, every once in a while making comments about how much they shipped NaruHina, or cracking some type of joke about the film.

Mikey pointed towards the screen. "Hey look! Sasuke is in the film for a whole ten seconds!"  
Then later on it was her turn.  
"Look! He's in the film for another ten seconds!"  
The two hadn't realized how late it was until after the film had ended.

Sam frowned. "Dang, its 12a.m. already. I need to get to sleep so I can wake up at a decent time tomorrow for school."  
"I guess that means I have to wait until the weekend to see you again, right? Because every night will be a school night?"  
"Um, actually, I usually don't have a lot of homework each night, and it isn't AP testing season just yet, so most nights I'll be able to hangout. Sadly you'd have to come over kind of late most nights though, and you would have to leave kind of early as well." Sam rubbed the back of her neck. "I doubt you want to make the trip up here just to have to leave so soon."  
Playfully, he gave her a confused look. "Did you book me for events that I don't know about?"  
"You would come all the way up here just to hangout for a couple of hours?"  
"Totally dude, you're really chill and easy and fun to talk to. The only issue is if my brothers need me. Like if there's a Foot clan attack somewhere, then I need to be there stopping them with my bros."  
Sam was shocked. "You guys fight the Foot huh? That's insane, in a good way of course. You have a phone of any kind?"  
Mikey reached into his right pocket and pulled out what looked like a hand-sized turtle shell. When he pressed a button on the flat side of the shell, a screen turned on.  
"Donnie made these for us, we call them shell cells. They pretty much work like regular cell phones."  
Sam took the phone, impressed with its design. It would be cool to talk to the nerdy brother, but she knew that would never happen. Sam then began looking for a 'contacts' app to click on in order to prevent herself from thinking about how the other brothers had treated her a few nights previous. She entered her number into the phone and then used it to call her own phone. After a few seconds, her phone began to ring.  
"Alright, now we can communicate with each other. If the other doesn't pick up when they're sent a message, then we know that they're busy."  
Mikey's face then displayed a mischievous smile. "Heh, now I have two girls phone numbers" he said, putting two thumbs up.  
Sam responded with pursed lips while slowly shaking her head. "Wow, such a player. Two whole girls."  
"Hey! For a turtle who lives in the sewers, that's pretty good!"  
She laughed. "Yea I guess so. Well, hopefully see you tomorrow?"  
He held up his phone. "I'll be waiting for that text. Unless time gets away from you again."  
"*sigh* you're never going to let me live that down now, are you?"  
"Nope! Goodnight!" he said with a smile as he opened the window and climbed through, and that fast he was gone. As Sam turned off the lights in her room, she hoped that she would be able to see her friend again the next night, and she wondered if he thought of her as a friend as well.

The rest of that week, Sam and Mikey had continued to meet up with each other. Even on Wednesday and Thursday when there had been some gangs trying to rob a few banks and the turtles had stopped them late into the night, Mikey still stopped by for a few minutes to let his new friend know he was alright, and also just to say hi. It was now Friday night and Mikey was heading over to her house once again. At this point his brothers didn't even ask him where he was off to, they just hoped that he wasn't doing anything stupid.

For most of that first week their wishes had been answered since the new friends had just been hanging out at Sam's apartment the whole time. Jay was rarely there, so the two were able to venture around the rest of the apartment and not just the one bedroom. On Monday the two had an intense nerf gun battle after Mikey had learned how to secretly add healthier ingredients to his pizza and then helped Sam bake a few batches of cookies. On Tuesday, Mikey helped Sam work on some projects she needed to complete for the many clubs she was a member of in the kitchen where they had more table space, and on Wednesday and Thursday the two played video games on the larger television in the living room with the little time they had. He assumed that tonight would be no different, but he was shocked when he climbed through the open window and saw that Sam was completely dressed with a small back pack on her back.  
He knocked on the side of the wall. Sam turned around and smiled. "Ayeee."  
"Hey, you going somewhere?"  
"WE are going somewhere, yes. Thank you for asking."

Sam was wearing a long sleeve dark red shirt and navy blue track sweatpants with a black and green beanie of the same colors. In her back pack was her basic necessities, her tonfa, a phone and tablet, her camera detector, and attached to the back was her skateboard.  
"Uhhhh" Mikey said in a confused high pitched tone "I can't really go anywhere, ever."  
Sam was confused. "Why not? You're a ninja right?"  
"Yea, but I still look like this" he said as he held up his hand and wiggled his three fingers.  
"Well, blend in with the shadows like you usually do."  
"Where are we going anyway? And why?"  
"We've been meeting up in the same apartment building all week. It's been fun, but it's Friday night! Who wants to stay locked up at home on a weekend night?"  
"Me, which is what I've been doing all my life."  
"Well, you're friends with me now, so you don't have to do that any…more…" Sam was confused as to why the turtle in front of her was just staring blankly at her. She then realized for the first time since they had met that one of them had officially called the other a friend. She paused, afraid that he might want to run off now that she had given a title to their relationship, but to her amusement he just turned around and shouted "Alright lead the way!"

Sam fought to conceal her smile as she realized his reaction was one of amazement and joy. She was still getting used to the fact that this new friendship made him as happy as it had made her.

 **Theme: Marshmello-Ritual**

Mikey climbed out the window and then jumped onto a ladder on the building across from where he was. He slid down the ladder and was waiting on the ground for Sam when he heard his phone go off. He read the message: _Hey I'm up top. Where are you?"_

"What?..." He looked up and saw Sam waving her hand over the side of the top of the building. He pulled his board from off his back and hopped on as he used it to glide up to the top of the building.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked once he reached the top of the building.  
"Waiting for you! What were you doing down there? Hmph, and you were the one worried about getting caught" she said as she shook her head.  
Michelangelo looked around, wondering how the heck they were going to move around when they were so high up. Wait…she couldn't mean…

"Are we jumping buildings?" he asked with wide eyes.  
"Try to keep up!" she shouted as she ran forward.  
"Sam, wait!" But before he could say anything to her, she had already run and leaped over to the next building. She skid to a stop once she stuck her landing on the roof. She looked over and smiled towards her friend, waiting for him to come join her. Quickly he ran over and with ease he jumped onto the same roof, but he was furious rather than happy.  
"What the heck was that? Are you crazy?"  
Her smile faded. "No, maybe when I first started doing this yes, but it's easy now. I mean not as easy as it is for you since you're taller than me, and ripped, but it's still a lot easier than it used to be haha."  
"You…you've done this before? For how long?"  
"About four years. I'm on my own a lot now, so I have to go find fun things to do on my own, that and being alone has increased my adrenaline seeking tendencies. That's pretty much the main reason I met you guys in the first place."  
Mikey was shocked, both about the fact that there was still so much he didn't know about this girl and also at how much she could do. He knew his brothers were right about her being able to do things that no normal person usually could. Was all that she had learned really taught to her in a self-defense class? Then again, maybe there was just a lot more to the story than he knew. Either way, he still wanted to be friends with this girl and he hoped that maybe one day he would know all the details as to how she was who she was, but for now he just wanted to help make sure she got to wherever their destination was safely.

"Alright, lead the way. But I'm literally going to be right behind you! Okay?"  
She nodded. "Gotcha!" Sam was happy that he trusted her and wasn't questioning her about her past while being protective of her at the same time.  
"Here, we'll be heading in this direction for a while" and with that Sam ran ahead and leaped from roof top to roof top.

For about 20 minutes the two constantly moved along the rooves of many of the buildings throughout the city. A few times there were moments where the two had to climb up or down, but overall they kept moving at a constant quick paced rate. Finally they reached a shorter building that was in a more vacant location in the city. Mikey wasn't sure what exactly this building was for or why they were there, but he was assuming that Sam's huge smile meant that something fun was in store for them.

Sam walked over to a vent and pulled open the cover. She waved her friend over and then she slipped down inside the tunnel of the vent. She pushed her hands and feet against the sides of the vent and slowly began moving down the tunnel. She would slide her feet down some, then her hands, and she continued to alternate until she was at the bottom of the tunnel. She turned back to see if Mikey was following her. He looked confused, but he was still patiently trailing behind her. She then began crawling forward, and for a few minutes or so the two continued to follow this pattern. Eventually Sam stopped and then pulled her phone out of her back pack.

"Hey, why did we stop?"  
"We're above the room that controls all the security cameras throughout this building. I need to set all the cameras back a couple of hours so that no one knows we were ever here. Don't worry it will only take a few minutes and then we'll be free to move around."  
He laughed. "You literally sound like Donnie right now."  
"Then that means your brother must be a genius."  
"Oh he is! Like he would probably freak out if he was able to talk to someone about tech stuff like this."  
Sam chuckled, but she knew that would never happen. As much as she would also love to talk to someone else about technology, she knew that Donnie wanted as little to do with her as possible, just like all the remaining brothers did. But she shook her head and ignored these thoughts and went back to focusing on hacking into the buildings security system and editing the camera footage.  
"Alright, time to move on. Just a bit further and then we can get out of this vent."  
The two crawled forward a bit more and finally Sam opened up one of the covers in the vent. She crawled forward and turned around to face Mikey who was cautiously staying still.  
"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.  
"Won't there be people wondering around? I can't be seen, I can't risk exposing my brothers and putting my family in danger…"  
Sam crouched down so that she was at eye level with her friend who was still in the vent tunnel.  
"So I've been on my own for a long while now, and I've explored A LOT of different places, including this one. For four years I've snuck in here on weekend nights. One of the reasons being that I thought the prices for a membership here are ridiculous, and the other being that I've never had someone to bring with me. Within the four years that I've been sneaking in here I've learned that the owner closes this place early each night at about 7:00 because he doesn't want teenagers wrecking the place, since apparently young people go crazy at nighttime according to him, which honestly isn't an inaccurate thought. I mean some of the kids from school that come here are freaking insane. Anyway, the owner's house is located further towards the center of the city and it would take him a long time to get out here. Plus, since we're not in a huge crime ridden area and also since the owner doesn't really keep any money here, there's no security outside, only during work hours when this place is open. I've scoped this place out hung out here countless times and" as she knocked on the wall "I've yet to get caught. Don't worry, I wouldn't bring you here if there was a high chance of your identity being exposed."  
Mikey looked up at her and smiled. He was grateful that she had put so much thought into their get together, and this also helped him in feeling more comfortable with her and in gaining his trust.

As he crawled out of the vent and stood up, his jaw dropped as he finally got to look around and see where they were. The building was much larger than just this room when looking at it from the outside which meant that there had to be many other rooms besides the one they were in, but at that moment the two friends were standing inside a huge indoor skate park. Mikey couldn't believe his eyes. As much as he loved to skate board, he had never gotten a chance to go to an actual skate park. The only way he was ever able to practice was by skating along the rounded walls and along the pipes in the sewers underground, but this place was obviously a million times better.  
"Woooooow, this place is incredible!"  
"Heh, I had a feeling you'd like it."  
"So, are you going to show me your awesome moves?"  
She gave him a blank stare. "Uhhh, I like to skate and stuff, but I'm no Tony Hawk or Rob Dydrek. Honestly I've always been more of a speed skater, I don't really know how to do tricks or anything."  
"Well guess who has two thumbs and is super freaking awesome at everything related to skateboarding…THIS GUY!" he shouted as he pointed his thumbs to himself.  
"Alright then Mr. Super freaking awesome, show me watcha got."  
"Oh I accept that challenge ma'am!"

He then grabbed his board and began skating all throughout the various vert and mini ramps throughout the park. He quickly went around and started doing all types of tricks. Sam knew a few tricks, but honestly she had no idea what the heck any of them were called, she just practiced some stuff she saw online until she got more comfortable with it. As the two skated around, they would talk as they happened to pass each other or as they stalled on the ramps.

Sam rolled up to the top of one of the ramp and stayed still while balancing on the nose of the board.  
"Hey, what happened to not knowing any tricks?" Mikey asked as he rolled up and performed the same pose next to her, and then rolled off.  
Sam made a confused face. "This is a trick? All I did was stop at the top of the ramp" she stated as she followed behind him.  
"Yea, but stopping at the top of the ramp has a name, that one was called a nose stall."  
"Oh, so this is a nose stall?" She did the same thing, but this time she stopped on the tail of the board.  
"No, that one's a tail stall, see?" as he followed behind her and repeated the same move that she just had.  
"I honestly don't see a difference."  
"The first time you stopped on the nose of the board, this time you stopped on the tail. Does that make sense?"  
He demonstrated a few more times and eventually she finally understood.  
"Okay, then does this have a name?"  
She then skated to the top of the ramp and stopped with the middle part of the bottom of the board staying on the ramp. Mikey rolled up and did the same thing. "Axle stall."  
The two rolled off. Sam watched as Mikey was able to hop and get his board off the ground.  
"Does hopping have a name to?"  
Mikey then repeated the move. "That one was an ollie, because I used the tail of the board to jump off the ground."  
"Oh, oh! Okay watch this then." Sam then hopped off the ground, but this time she did so using the nose of the board. "Let me guess, was that a nollie?"  
He gave her two thumbs up as he rolled by her. "There you go!"  
She then watched as he rolled up to the top of a ramp and then flip the board around before riding back down.  
"That was a pivot right?"  
He shook his head and smiled. "Nope! Kick-flip!" as he went up another ramp and did the same thing. "Nice try though."  
"Hmmmm okay, let me guess the name of this one." She then rolled up to a rail and glided across using the bottom of the board. "That was grinding, right?"  
Again Mikey smiled as he shook his head. "No, THIS-" as he rolled up to the adjacent rail and glided across using the axles of the board "-Is grinding. What you did was a rail slide."  
She threw her hands up in confusion. "What's the difference?"  
He stopped his board and faced her. "You glided across using the deck, I used the axles."  
"…what's the deck?"  
He laughed. "It's just another term for the board itself. Try to grind again."  
Sam then rolled up and used the back axle to glide across the rail.  
Mikey cheered for her. "There you go!"  
Sam looked over at him and smiled. "So, would that be a tail grind? Since I used the back axle?"  
"There's no such thing as a tail grind!" he laughed "That was a 5-0 grind."  
"Oh okay, so then this-" as she rolled up and used the underside of the tail of the board to glide across the rail "is called a 5-0 slide, right?"  
Mikey couldn't keep himself from laughing as he shook his head. "Tail slide!"  
"Then what is a 5-0 slide?"  
"That doesn't exist!"  
"OH MY GOD I'M DONE!" she yelled playfully as she threw her hands up in the air.  
"Dude, how do you know how to do all this stuff but you don't know any of the terminology?"  
"I don't know, I just go with the flow I guess. Like when people teach themselves how to play an instrument but they don't actually know all the note names."  
"Fair enough, but what happened to not knowing any tricks? You've already demonstrated a bunch of them!"  
"I didn't really consider these tricks, I feel like tricks are way more complicated."  
"Heh, I can't wait to hear what you think the complicated moves are named."  
"I REPEAT I'M DONE!" she playfully shouted, and just as she did so, her board slid out from under her. She stumbled and fell back, but they both were able to see her board go flying straight up into the air and then land perfectly right into a bag-less trash can.  
"Goalllllll!" she shouted!  
"Ayeee cowabunga!" he shouted as he sat down at the top of one of the mini ramps.  
She looked over at him as she quickly ran up the ramp to retrieve her board. "Cowabunga?"  
"Yea! Got a problem with it? And if you do, then you're as bad as Raph!"  
She gave him a serious yet still playful look. "Okay listen up. 1. I don't have a problem with it, it was just random as hell. 2. Gee, thanks for the compliment" she said in a sarcastic tone.  
"I take random as a compliment ma'am."  
"Well then you're welcome for the compliment, sir. What is with guys and weird sayings anyway?"  
"What other weird sayings are you used to?"  
"Whenever my younger brother scored playing sports or if he got the new high score in a video game, he would always scream 'booyakasha.' What the hell is that?!"  
Mikey burst out laughing which lead him to fall and roll down into the center of the ramp.  
"Dude your younger brother sounds amazing!"  
Sam rolled her eyes and smiled as she pulled her board out of the bin it had landed in.

For the next two hours the two friends continued to skate around, occasionally teasing Sam on her lack of knowledge when it came to skateboarding terminology. Once their time was up, the two packed up their belongings and went back to the vent where they had entered the room. They climbed their way back to the vent opening on the roof, making sure to alter all the cameras again before they left. Since neither of the two were really in a rush, they decided to walk back to the apartment, talking the entire way back as they continued to get to know each other.

"Hey Sam, when's your birthday?"  
"April 4th."  
"Oh! So you just recently turned 16 then?"  
"Yup! How about you? When's your birthday?"  
"February 2nd."  
"So you're not that far behind me then. You were born in 99 though, right?"  
"Yea, how about you?"  
"98, so I'm not that much older than you guys, oh, assuming that you guys all have the same birthday."  
"We do actually. Donnie looked into what he could find from the old files that April could find on us from the TCRI experiments and we all actually are blood related and were born the exact same day in the order that we thought. When we were kids, there were times when we were curious about whether we all actually were related to each other or not since physically we have similarities, like how me and Leo have the exact same eye color and then Raph's match Donnie's spot on, but personality wise each of us are so different. There were also times when we weren't sure who was actually the oldest. For example, Donnie can sometimes be wise and calm like Leo, plus he's been the tallest of us four for a long time now, so we all wondered if he could actually be one of the oldest of us four. But regardless of these curious thoughts, somehow our instincts helped us know who was really the oldest to youngest, but it was nice to officially know that we are all blood related and the order of our births though.

Sam smiled as she looked over at him. She was walking along his left side, so she was able to see his left shoulder where his shell tattoo was.  
"I still can't believe you have that."  
"What?" he said tilting his head to the side.  
"A tattoo. Like, I just can't believe you guys learned how to do all that, and they look really good to!"  
"Dawwww you're to kind miss."  
"Do your brothers have any? And who printed them?"  
"Oh yeah! Leo has another shell tattoo like this on his right arm, and he also has a tattoo on his left bicep of turtles in a row with lines above and below them. The one on his bicep is a design that he made when he was younger so the design means a lot to him. Raph has a shell tattoo on his shoulder to, but of course the design is a bit different because he had to go be soooo cool and be different, pfftt! Whatever" he said as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Raph printed ALL the shell tattoos, but Leo printed the one on his left bicep with a little help from Raph, and I printed the one on my wrist all by myself."  
"I guess Donnie doesn't have any?"  
"He does actually! He has a smaller shell tattoo like this one on the top of his left shoulder, he just has so much gear on all the time that you can never see it."  
"Wow, just from what you've told me this past week, I thought he would be a total health freak and wouldn't let a needle anywhere near his skin."  
Mikey chuckled. "You're spot on when you say that, that's why he ONLY has the shell tattoo, and it's the smallest of all four of our shell tattoos. But we've all seen the shell tat as a symbol that represents our family, that's the sole reason he allowed it. The rest of us have at least one other, but he would only allow that one."  
"So then what's the meaning of this one?" I asked as I pointed to the cursive writing on his left wrist.  
"Honestly that was a mix of me being extremely proud of myself both for learning how to print my own tattoo AND for learning how to write in cursive. Our dad taught us…basically everything we've ever really learned, but I was always the last one to really understand anything, so this tattoo was pretty much me rewarding and praising myself for learning the two skills."  
"That's really cool" I said with a beaming smile. "I love hearing stories about meaningful tattoos. Again this is just my personal opinion, but I just don't get the point in getting a ton of random tattoos, but I think meaningful tattoos are really nice. Ha, is there a reason for your brother branding kanji on his shoulder?"  
"Oh no that one's is just him trying to look super cool. Like even Leo who's all for tattoos thought he was crazy for that one." We both had to cover our mouths so that we didn't laugh too loud in the middle of the night.  
"Does the kanji have a relative meaning to his life or anything at least?"  
He nodded. "That I can luckily say yes to. It matches the kanji on the top of his bandana."  
My eyebrows rose in surprise. "I never realized he had kanji on the top of his head."  
"Really? I guess you didn't notice mine then either."  
"No! Where is it?"  
He stopped and held the end of the left strap of his bandana so that the cloth was flat so that the kanji was visible.  
"Whoa! I never noticed that until now! Do all four of you have this as well?"  
"Yup! Leo's is on the right side near his eyes and it stands for 'patience,' Raph's kanji on his shoulder and on the top of his bandana reads 'anger' and the kanji on his right strap reads 'beast,' Donnie's kanji on his left strap stands for 'bright' and he also has a small turtle print above it, and then MINE stands for 'heart' which I have a lot of because I'm just incredibly amazing. I guess I should also point out that there's kanji painted on the back of my shell as well."  
"NO THERE'S NOT!"  
"SHHHH!"  
"Dude…I swear I've been living under a rock. How have I not noticed any of this?!"  
"Because you weren't looking for it, but now you are!"  
"Wow, I was not expecting this Psychology 101 type of info today. I was un-prepared."  
"Hehe, oh hey there's a ladder coming up, if you put my board in your bag then I can carry you up."  
I nodded as he handed me his board. It was as I was securing his board to the straps on the back of my bag that I noticed the writing on the back of his shell for the first time. I hopped up onto his back and held on as he climbed up the ladder to the roof of the building.  
"So what does it stand for then?"  
"Mine stands for 'child,' a perfect fit for me if I do say so myself" he chuckled.  
"Mine? So your brothers have spray paint on their shells as well?"  
"Leo and Raph do. Leo has 'honor' painted in blue on his shell, and Raph has 'family' in red on the back of his. Hehe, Leo can write in Japanese perfectly, but when it comes to paint he just can't keep himself from making mistakes, so don't tell anyone this, but because I had to paint the kanji on Raph's shell I secretly wrote 'Mikey's the best' in Japanese in brown on his shell in a really hard to see spot."  
"Damn, and I thought branding kanji into your skin was badass, but this totally tops everything you've said about your brothers! But don't worry your secret is safe with me."  
As we reached the top of the building, he put me down and put his knuckles out for a fist bump. "Thanks bruh."  
I returned the gesture. "Cowabunga!"  
"Booyakasha!"

It only took a few more minutes and the two had reached the apartment. It had gotten pretty late by the time they returned home, time passing by much quicker since they made the decision to walk home. The last few minutes continued to be filled with nothing but kind and humorous conversation between the two friends, both enjoying the others company. Mikey slowly began to notice that Sam asked a lot more questions and did a lot more listening than making comments about her own family and life, but he also assumed this was because he was a giant mutant turtle. Most people would probably want to talk more about that than everyday life. Once they reached the apartment the two said their goodbyes and decided to call it a night, but both couldn't wait for the following night, hoping that they would get to hangout and have another great night goofing off together just like they had tonight.


	9. Chapter 9

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter 9

*A couple weeks later*

FINALLY I HAD FINISHED MY LAST AP TEST FOR THAT YEAR! I was continuing my goal of scoring high on as many AP tests as possible. This goal was mainly to help eliminate future college credits while also hopefully being a way of helping me get into any college of my choice, even though I already knew where I wanted to go: Blair University. It wasn't exactly one of the top colleges in the country, but it was still a very well-known university, and EVERYTHING they had to offer was very competitive, including their soccer and dance programs.

As I was exiting the school building I felt my phone vibrate in the small sling over bag I had on. As I pulled out my phone I saw that the call was from Jay.  
"Hello?" I asked as I was walking out the doors of the school building and about to make a left.  
"Before you keep walking, look up."  
I looked over across the street to see my older brother leaning back on the wall of the building behind him, waving at me.  
I instantly started to smile, and after I checked, I ran across the street towards where he was standing.  
"Hey! What are you doing here?!"  
"Haha, I knew today was your last day of AP testing for this school year, and even though I know you will continue to work hard and complete all your school work, today is basically when you stop and take a break from all the stress that school brings. So, I've been putting in some extra hours so that some strings could be pulled and I could take the afternoon off to celebrate with yo-OOMPH!"  
I hugged the crap out of my brother, excited that the rest of my day would be spent with him and then later that night I would get to hang-out with my new friend once again.

"So dear brother, what did you have in mind for this spontaneous outing together?" I said jokingly.  
"God you're so weird haha, but I've been super stressed lately, so we're going to go jump on a bunch of trampolines to take all the stress away."  
"*gasp* you…you don't mean…"  
"YUP! We're heading over to Skyzone."  
"OH MY GOD YESSSSSSSS!"  
And that fast I took off and started running down the sidewalk in excitement. It took me a few minutes to realize that Jay wasn't following me.  
He stood there and shook his head. "That dork, I wonder how long it will take for her to realize she's heading in the wrong direction."

*Later that same day*

It's funny how long a 16 and 23 year old can spend in Skyzone going crazy and having tons of fun jumping around on trampolines. We ended up staying there longer than we both intended, so after we had finished acting like children we just decided to walk home and order food to be brought to our home. Ironically we ended up ordering some pizza. Jay said that he hadn't had a chance to have any in a while because at work they were always walking to the same few local restaurants every day, so I decided to go along with it and said "sure, why not?" even though I had eaten plenty within the past couple of weeks, but he didn't need to know that.

As we were sitting on the couch eating dinner and watching t.v. I noticed that he kept looking over at me with a puzzled face.  
"Can I help you with something sir?"  
"…You're happy…like, happier than usual happy…why?"  
"Oh I'm sorry, forgive me for not being extremely depressed and actually enjoying life."  
"Tch, you're such an ass" he said playfully.  
"Might as well change my first name to Jack" I said with a smile.  
He chuckled. "Seriously, what's gotten you to be so cheery?"  
"I honestly don't know what you mean, I feel the same as the last time I got to hang out with you."  
"I guess its brotherly intuition, but I can just tell that you're perkier than usual. And when I say that I don't mean that you're usually depressed and sulking all the time, but you've been acting the way you used to before everything happened years ago…oh god, is it because of a boy? Are you dating someone?"  
"Ughhh anytime I display any "new" emotion you ALWAYS assume I'm dating someone. I swear I'm not dating anyone!" I said as I playfully shoved his shoulder. There was no way I was ever going to tell him that a boy actually was the reason for my newfound happiness. Honestly I hadn't noticed a change in my behavior, had mine and Mikey's new friendship really had that much of an impact on me already? Already, heck I wasn't expecting this new friendship to have any type of impact on me in general. When did these changes start occurring, and how could Jay notice a change in me when I hadn't even noticed a change within myself?

"Okay I'll admit" he began, "I do jump to conclusions like that pretty quickly, but it's only because I worry about you! I don't want you to get hurt. I was a high school boy once and I know that some of them can be real jerks."  
I smiled at him. "Don't worry, you have nothing to worry about. This increase in happiness is just because I'm finally done studying for a while…that and because we can finally watch the new Naruto movie."  
"OH YES! Thank you for reminding me!" as he got up and ran over to the t.v. to put the disk into the player.  
I laughed as I leaned back into the couch. Maybe one day I would be lucky enough to tell him about Mikey, but for now that was going to continue being my little secret.

It was about 10 at night when Sam heard a knock on her window.  
"It's open!" she called, and then she heard the window slide open.  
"Wassup bruh? How'd the testing go?"  
"Pretty good, I actually felt more confident about the stat test than I thought I would, but hopefully I'll get 3's or higher on each."  
"HEY! Mikey only hangs with people who have positive vibes! Have more confidence in yourself, especially after all that studying I helped you with."  
"Thanks again for all that, me explaining all my notes to you on each subject was definitely a huge help."  
"No problem, that's what friends are for. So, where to tonight?"  
"Tonight we're BOOOOWWWWLINGGGG!" I said as I excitedly threw my hands up in the air.

For the past couple of weekends Sam had snuck Mikey into a variety of different places. On Friday and Saturday nights she took him to places that were usually really crowded during the day like the mall and the movie theater, this way if they stayed out really late when these places were closed it wouldn't create any negative effects the next day because they both could just sleep in super late the following morning. On Sunday nights she took him to places that she knew the owner lived further away from the businesses location or that in general had low security. One night they had gone to a local arcade where the owner lived further away towards the outer locations of the city, and another night they went to a park that was locked up during the night. The rest of the week the two would just hangout in Sam's apartment. Because these past two weeks were when AP tests began, Mikey had been kind enough to help Sam in studying for the multiple various tests that she was signed up to take while also helping her in the projects she had to complete for other clubs as well. They both were excited that from now on, since AP testing was over and since Sam was in standard classes, some related to the tests she had just taken, she would be much more available to go out and spend even more time with her new friend.

Sam packed up her usual belongings that she took with her on their outings and the two headed towards the top of her apartment building. They thought that tonight was going to be another regular night of them hanging out together. However, what Mikey didn't realize was that he had gotten so caught up in the excitement of getting to go see his friend again that he hadn't charged up his phone, and that of all nights, the one night his phone couldn't hold a charge was the night that he would need it to.

Donnie was tinkering around in his lab when he heard one of the monitors make a beeping sound. He walked through the doors of his lab and turned to face the collage of computer screens. One of them was able to read the feeds from local police scanners and currently it was retrieving information about a robbery downtown and the location the robbers were currently heading towards, a warehouse downtown.

"Guys!"  
"On it!" Leo said as he walked past Donnie and headed towards the weapons wall on the far left. Raph had been in the workout area which was parallel to the weapons storage, so he was already gearing up by the time Leo got over there.  
Donnie joined them and also grabbed some gear that he might need. "The warehouse being robbed isn't too far away from here, so we can travel by foot tonight."  
"Alright, while I finish getting ready, one of you go to tell Splinter what we're doing and the other call Mikey and tell him we'll need him tonight."  
Raph ran to go get their father, while Donnie walked in the direction of the exit and got out his shell cell. He called Mikey's cell phone number, only to get no response. "That's not good." He tried again, just to get the same response.  
"I told dad where we're heading, how far away is Mikey?" Raph asked as he walked beside his brother.  
"Ummm, well, you see-"  
"He didn't pick up did he?" That fast Raph began to grow furious. "I knew this was going to happen at some point, you happy Leo?"  
"What's wrong?" He looked at Donnie.  
Donnie pursed his lips together. "Mikey's not picking up…"  
Leo sighed. "Leave a voice mail, he should be there by the time we reach our location. He knows to check his phone every so often, so he should be checking again soon."  
After Donnie left a voice message, the three ran off. They jumped and flipped over the various pipes and other random debris that popped up throughout the sewers. Within 10 minutes they reached a ladder that lead them up to a manhole cover. Once it was removed the three climbed up to the surface, then climbing up another ladder that lead them to the top of a building right next to where the exit from the sewers was.

Once they reached the top of the building, Donnie checked his phone once again just to find that there was still no word from his younger brother. Leo and Raph looked over and could tell by their brother's face that Mikey still hadn't responded. All three were growing both nervous and upset about the current situation. Had their brother received the message and now he had been captured? Or was he being distracted by his new friend and he never got the message to begin with? Each of them shuddered when thinking of the girl. Originally it had only been Raph who just straight up hated her, but now even Leo and Donnie were growing some hateful feelings towards the girl. They were all worried about just how much Mikey hung out with her and what her true intentions of hanging out with him were, and not being able to currently contact him after they knew he had headed out to see her were making them all extremely nervous as to why he wasn't picking up.

Leo sighed and made a decision.  
"Alright, whether he's been here or not, we need to get inside and catch these robbers. Once inside we might find some answers as to where he is."  
Donnie walked over towards a glass window that was on the roof. It was dark inside, so he put his goggles on and used them to try and figure out where the robbers were hiding.  
"They keep walking towards an entry way on the far left side of the room, whatever they're hiding or trying to protect is probably in there."  
Leo spotted a vent on the roof. "That should lead us in. Let's try to secretly get towards that opening. Raph, you ready to go Hulk on these guys?"  
"Tch, like you even need to ask" he said with an evil grin as he cracked his knuckles.  
Leo grinned. "Donnie" he faced the purple bearing turtle, "you try and head towards that opening and see what's inside. For now, Raph and I will try to lure as many of these guys away from that area as possible."  
All three brothers nodded and headed towards the vent. They removed the cover and each crawled through. They traveled throughout the vents until they reached an opening in the vent where once they dropped down, they were standing above a walkway that was raised above the ground. The three dropped down.  
Donnie used his goggles to see where the robbers were at.  
"Based on how they're dressed, these guys are Foot soldiers. They're spread out all over the place now, but it's too dark for them to see us up here." He then pointed towards the far wall. "If you two can lead them over that way, that or right below us, that should create an opening for me to try and sneak into that opening on the left wall."  
Raph had a devilish smile on his face. "Let's do this."

He then jumped down and landed with a huge *thud.* Multiple heads looked over towards him. Raph closed his eyes, using his auditory senses to guide him in where to run and where to hit, as he rushed towards the few men in front of him and instantly started throwing punches, knocking out the few men who were closest to him. Leo ran around the walkway as he heard bullets being shot behind him, his loud foot-steps guiding the soldiers where to shoot. He then jumped down to the lower level as he used his katanas to knock the guns out of the hands of the few soldiers closest to him. He also relied on his auditory senses to know where and when to attack. Luckily there were only about 20 soldiers total at the moment, so it wasn't too difficult of a fight, but having Mikey there definitely would have helped. Once the soldiers had clumped themselves together as they tried to attack the two turtles, Donnie then jumped down and ran straight for the opening.

After taking one step into the entry way, he felt a small pain in his right arm. He looked down to see a small cut, and diagonally behind him was a kunai knife. "Oh no."  
When he turned back around, Karai was rushing towards him. He turned and ran back through the entry way into the main open area of the warehouse where his brothers had been fighting.  
"Bail! BAIL NOW!" he screamed.  
He knew that if Karai was there, then this was no normal robbery. The Foot had known that the brothers would chase them down, they wanted the turtles to find them and attack. That's why there were so few soldiers inside, because the rest were somewhere else waiting to follow their every move.  
Donnie saw that there more soldiers near Raph, so he ran over in his direction. The soldiers turned around and shot at Donnie who blocked their shots but rapidly spinning his bo staff, knocking down each bullet that was fired in his direction. As Donnie was knocking down bullets, Raph was knocking out soldiers. The two then ran over and helped knock out the few soldiers that were still attacking Leo.  
The three ran over and climbed up a ladder that lead them back up to the walkway above the ground. As they all ran around the walkway towards the vent, they heard Karai call to them from below.  
"You can only run for so long turtles!"  
Raph clenched his fists and was about to yell back down to her until he felt Donnie pull on his shoulder.  
"Come one Raph! We need to go!"  
Raph nodded and followed his brother back up to the roof of the building.

Once they got to the top of the building they all followed Donnie, who being the thinnest was also the fastest. The three sped off for a good while. Donnie used his goggles as they ran to detect when someone was getting close to them. After they had been running for about ten minutes straight with no bodies being detected, Donnie decided that they could rest for a bit and strategize what their next move should be.

Leo walked over to his brother with a puzzled look displayed on his face.  
"Okay, so explain to me what's going on."  
"Karai, Shredder's protégé and right hand man. She was waiting for us in that warehouse, which means somethings up. I'm not sure exactly what they're planning, but I'm sure it's not good. There's a high possibility that they're trying to locate our new home since they've tried that a few times. Sadly they got a small DNA sample tonight." He then showed Leo the small cut on his arm. "Now that they have this, they're probably on the move, trying to follow and hunt us down now as we speak." As he continued to talk, Raph came over and helped put some bandage wraps over the small wound. He shook his head as he did so.  
"Of course, the night they get an advantage over us is the night that Mikey is nowhere to be seen."  
Donnie nodded. "What I'm most worried about is that we don't know if he got that message and they captured him, or if he never got the message at all and is perfectly fine. They could have him and be heading towards our home while we're out here running away from what could have been a diversion from the whole thing!"  
"Alright" Leo cut in. "Then we need to find Mikey, NOW. Are you able to do that from here Donnie?"  
He nodded as he pulled out one of the devices from his millions of pockets running across his chest. Raph raised an eyebrow as he watched his brother go to work.  
"So, what are you doing?"  
"Remember when I took all our blood samples years ago?"  
"Yeah."  
"This device can pin point where each of us is because of those samples. I would use it more often, but sadly it dies out really quickly and takes forever to re-boot, so I try to only use it in extreme measures like this…alright I found him!"  
Leo walked over and looked at the screen. "Where is he?"  
"He's…at a bowling alley, that's near the outskirts of the city."  
"Why would he be there? I thought he was supposed to be with that girl" Raph growled.  
Leo sighed. "There's a chance that she took him there."  
"Or she TRICKED him into going there! I knew she was bad news, but no! YOU!" as he ran up and shoved his finger at Leo's chest "YOU had to let him go see her and now look at the situation we're in!"  
"Trust me I'm not happy about this either-"  
"NO LEO you're not getting out of this one! We never got into this panicked of a situation of giving up the location of our home until Mikey started seeing that girl, and I know you two feel the same way!"  
"GUYS PLEASE!" Donnie shouted as he pushed the two apart. "Argue about whose to blame later, but our brother may need us right now, and we definitely need him. So let's go!"  
The two older brothers looked at Donnie, and then at each other. They glared each other down, but slowly their faces softened and they nodded towards the other, realizing that if Mikey was in danger, their arguing wasn't going to save him.  
The two then stood behind Donnie, waiting for him to lead the way. Donnie looked at his device and found the quickest route to lead them to their destination, and once he had adjusted his goggles, the three ran and leaped over onto the next building.

Sam walked over to the tables that her and Mikey had been sitting at and brought over a few slices of pizza and some nachos. She walked to the beat of the music which was playing on her phone at the table.

"So, are you catching up to me yet?"  
"A little bit, but this isn't fair! You've had years of practice, this is my first time doing this and constantly I keep rolling the ball into the gutter!"  
"Awww, want me to set the bumpers up for you?" she asked in a mocking tone.  
"NEVER! I will overcome this challenge!...aren't you a trainee at a professional dance school?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Then why are you dancing so weird?" he laughed.  
"Because I'm just moving to the beat, songs like this make you do that! You dance like a dork out of fun, the music just takes control!"

The two had been hanging out for a couple of hours at the bowling alley where there had been a lot of goofing off, learning about each other, and teasing the hell out of Mikey who was struggling to get a hold of how to bowl without letting the ball land in the gutter. At this point in time, Sam had learned everything about the turtles and Splinter's past and how they became what they were thanks to Sachs experiments. She also knew about the great hogosha April O'Neil, so now she wasn't as jealous as to why she got to hang out with the guys so much since she literally was the reason the five of them were free to live the way they were now, so Sam understood how different their situations were and why the two were treated differently amongst the turtles. She had also learned about their battles with the Shredder months ago and how he had landed in the middle of the streets of New York and how he had escaped because some of his main soldiers had sprayed gases all throughout that local area of the fall so that the crowd would disperse and they could swoop in and rescue their leader.

In return, Sam told him about how Shredder currently was running two groups. The men that relied solely on guns were from a gang called the Purple Dragons whose leader was called Hun. Hun had decided to work for Shredder when he was offered endless weapons as long as he fulfilled any given order, which Hun was okay with since he would get all the power and credit while his men did all the dirty work. The soldiers who actually fought using their ninjutsu were the true Foot soldiers that trained and then traveled from the main branch in Japan.

She then told him more details of her personal life. She talked a lot about her seven siblings and some of the adventures they had gone on growing up. She mentioned that her older Korean sister Amber who was nine years older than her was her role model in life. Amber didn't care that people judged her for being a tomboy and she always lived life to the fullest. While Sam's Korean sister Jamie and her blood sister Haley were both extreme girly girls who were attached at the hip, Sam was always attached to Amber and a lot of her interest in sports and video games actually came from her before she began talking to her brothers about them.

She also talked a lot about her younger brother of two years, Chuck, whom she was ridiculously over protective of. She told Mikey about the millions of inside jokes that her and Chuck knew about, which always confused the heck out of the rest of their siblings.

Mikey was happy to hear about Sam's family, since beforehand it seemed that she would only bring them up for a quick minute and then would change the subject, so it meant a lot to him that she finally was feeling comfortable enough around him to talk about her family and a little bit about her past.

As the two were talking, Sam heard a beeping sound from her iPad in her bag. She picked it up to see that the small cameras she hid on the top of the building had been set off. She nodded to Mikey and the two got ready to fight and run. When the two had originally arrived at the bowling alley hours ago, Sam re-set and edited the cameras within the building and also set up some of her small dome cameras in case someone were to show up for whatever reason. She now made this part of a regular routine whenever the two left her apartment to go hang out. She had also shown Mikey any and all main and quickest escape routes in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

Sam had thrown everything she had brought into her back pack. She quickly slid her arms through the straps and the two ran for the easiest exits based on their speed, agility, and body size and height. Mikey ran towards the end of the lane where there was a door that lead to an exit in the alley way behind the building, and Sam had run towards the back wall where the lockers were where a vent was right above them. The two had their weapons in hand in case they needed to fight whoever was approaching.

Just as Sam opened the vent, a giant arm pushed her backwards. She stumbled, but was able to maintain her balance. When she looked back up, a furious Raph was standing in front of her. He grabbed her shirt and pulled her off the ground.  
"You…" he snarled.  
"No, not Yu, Park. My last name is Park, I do know a Yu though" she said sarcastically.  
"I swear I'm gonna-"  
"No thanks!" Leo cut in as he connected his arm with Raph's and swung him back, making Raph lose his grip on the girl.  
By this time Mikey had already run back over to where the others were standing, confused and scared as to what would happen next. Before he could say anything, a pissed and worried Donnie was in his face.  
"Where is your phone? Do you know how many times I called? Seriosuly we've been so worried about you, you idiot, and you've been playing around here?!"  
"Wait, what? Why didn't I get any messages?"  
"Your phones dead dude."  
The two deadpanned, and all four sets of eyes were on Sam.  
She reached into her bag and pulled out the shell cell and tossed it to her friend. "I picked it up earlier to check the time while you were looking up music on my phone, it's been dead the entire time we've been here. I've been charging it for a while, but it charges quicker when you leave it off. Sorry, I should have turned it on when I was charging it."  
"Oh you should be sorry for a lot more than that! You don't even know the dangers you've put all of us through!" Raph snapped.  
Sam turned around to look at him.  
"Don't worry, I always make sure everything is as safe as possible whenever we hang out."  
"What do you mean you ALWAYS make sure?" Donnie asked.  
Sam closed her eyes, a disappointed look on her face. "Oops…"  
"YOU'VE GONE OUT MORE THAN ONCE?!" Raph was losing his cool, which he never really had to begin with.  
Leo was also beginning to lose what little self-control he had.  
"Mikey, this can't go on anymore."  
"Leo wait-"  
"No you listen! We called you about an hour ago because we needed you for back up against the Foot, and now they have a way of tracing our every move and if we're not careful they could follow us and find out where our home is. We had no idea if you had gotten our message and had been kidnapped and if the Foot robbery was just a diversion, or if you were somewhere else that was safe. And it turns out that you were just playing around the entire time! This is exactly what I meant when I said that you two could bring danger to you and our family!"  
Mikey just stood there. He knew his brother was right, his excitement for wanting to hang out with his new friend had distracted him from being prepared to help support and protect his brothers. He wished there was a way he could see Sam while also being able to stay close to his brothers. Before he could say anything, Donnie butt in.  
"Leonardo, we need to go. NOW. According to my scanners, multiple bodies are closing in on this building."

Mikey turned towards Sam.  
"You have to hide."  
She gave him a puzzled look. "Why?"  
"Because Foot soldiers are heading this way, based on what you told me earlier, Shredder has been using a lot more of his actual soldiers than he has been using the Purple Dragons to fight his battles lately. These guys are bad new Sam, you have to hide."  
"Welllll you'll have to catch me first!"

She then turned and sprinted back over towards the lockers along the back wall, jumped up and pulled herself up on top of them.  
"SAM!" shouted a worried Michelangelo.  
"Trust me I've trained for this, plus I need to find a tight spot where I can edit all the main cameras and then also go and collect mine."  
"Cameras have been collected and I can edit the ones that belong to this building" Donnie said in a serious yet stern tone.  
"Oh, thanks" Sam said with a small smile. "Anyway, I'll go this way. If they're tracking you guys, then its best if I go a different way. Plus it's easier for me to travel this way because these vents are super thin, that's why you and I came in through the alley way. If a tiny teenage girl can barely move through these vents, then I'm sure it will be hell for a bunch of male Foot soldiers to do the same."

Mikey looked over at Donnie who was nodding his head.  
"As much as I hate to admit it, those are all valid points." He looked up at Sam. "Meet us on the top of the building, DO NOT move from there. If you see Foot soldiers, then hide somewhere and don't let them find you. We don't need a hostage situation to make things worse than they already are."  
Sam made the O.K. symbol with her fingers, and then she climbed up into the vent.

Leo looked over at Mikey, squinting his eyes in confusion.  
"Why does she know that the vents are tighter here?"  
"Oh, she's been sneaking into places like this for years" he said with a playful smile.  
"Oh great!" Raph cut in, "Now it's official that we've been letting our brother hang out with a criminal." He then turned around and ran towards the end of the lanes where the door that lead to the alley way exit was located.  
"Dude it's not like that! No one at her school gives her a chance, and her family members are always busy, so she's all alone!" he said as he ran behind her.  
Donnie was hacking into the cameras with the control pad on his wrist as they ran. "Mikey, don't you find it a bit odd that she doesn't have one friend from school, and that out of her seven other siblings, they're always busy?"  
"Well, yea. But I know there has to be a reason for that, and eventually she'll tell me!"  
"Alright," Raph said, "has she told you why she has so much strength when she's as thin as a stick?"  
"She took some self-defense classes in the past, and keep insulting her and see what happens!" Mikey said as he nudged his brother.  
"Oh please continue to threaten me you half-pint! You totally won't regret what will happen if you do!" Raph replied as he shoved his brother's face away.  
"STOP!" Leo had been leading the way but now was holding his hand up for his brother's to come to a halt.  
"Leo he's getting way to attached-"  
"HUSH! Look." Leo held up the device in his hands. While Donnie had been hacking the cameras, Leo had been holding the device showing the location of the Foot soldiers, and right now it showed that multiple bodies were standing down at the other end of the alley way.

"Wait," Donnie took the device into his own hands. "This is showing that there's a bunch of bodies outside, but they're focused on getting up to the roof. Look, they're all standing around waiting to climb up the ladder."  
Leo sighed. "We have to act fast, they may have found her."  
Mikey clenched his fists, waiting for orders as to how they should attack.  
The four brothers heard a few gun shots.  
"These guys are purple dragons, which means they should be a little easier to fight."  
"They're who?" asked Raph.  
"Never mind, I'll explain later, Leo what's the plan?" Mikey asked seriously.  
"…Alright, we need to get through these guys down below as soon as possible. According to the device, all the soldiers are at the bottom of this alley and only a small handful are at the top of the building. We need to clear through these guys down below as soon as possible. Mikey, you go directly to the roof as quick as you can and defend Sam. Got it?"  
"Wait!" Donnie chimed in. "There's a strong reading of our own DNA on this device, which means one of those soldiers has the device they're using to track us. We need to destroy that device. The knife they used earlier barely hit me, so any and everything they have to track us is out there right now."  
"Alright, are we all good now?"  
All four brothers nodded their heads.  
"Alright, LET'S GO!"

The four brothers shoved open the door and followed the orders they were given.  
Mikey instantly jumped onto his board and rocketed up to the roof of the building. Raph pulled his sais out and started cutting into every gun he could dig his weapons into. The best thing about these guys was that once they lost their guns, they were powerless. Leo leaped over his brother, attacking the soldiers in the back of the group. He used his katanas to block bullets that were shot at him while shoving soldiers into the wall, knocking them unconscious. Donnie momentarily hid in the shadows, trying to pin point who had the device that was tracking them. Finally he saw one of the soldiers in the middle of the group wearing a small pack with a few wires that lead to a small bump on his wrist, bingo.

"Raph back me up!" Donnie yelled as he rushed towards the center of the pack of men. Raph began barreling through, helping to create a smoother path way for his brother to run through. Donnie attacked men with his bo staff as he dodged bullets and flipped over clumped groups of rushing soldiers. Eventually he caught up to the man with the pack on his back. Donnie swung his bo at the man's feet, tripping him and making him fall flat on his face. As the man's face hit the concrete, Raph came up behind him and dug his sais into the top of the pack and dragged them all the way down, destroying the device.

Within a few more minutes, all the soldiers on the ground had been knocked out.  
"Raph, give me a boost" Leo said as he nodded his head towards the ladder along the wall of the building.  
Leo jumped up as Raph pushed his feet up with his hands, helping Leo get to a higher point on the ladder so that he could reach the roof sooner, with Raph climbing up the ladder right behind him. Donnie used an electronic grappling hook to help him get to the top of the roof.  
When all three finally reached the top of the roof, they were shocked at what they saw.

There were four Foot soldiers in total, and these were actual Foot soldiers, and they were being fought by not only Michelangelo, but Sam as well.  
Sam and Mikey were standing back to back, each defending punches and kicks from two soldiers each in front of them.  
The three brothers were shocked to see Sam dodging these attacks, blocking attacks that were close to hitting Mikey as well. A fist went by Sam's face, and she slammed her tonfa down on the man's arm. As she did so she ducked down from a kick coming from the second man. Overall she was good at timing when to dodge and when to attack, but it was also extremely noticeable that she was getting exhausted, and fast.  
Suddenly, as she put her tonfa in front of her to block another kick, she left her middle section open, and the second man landed a second kick right to her stomach.

Sam did her best to pull herself to the side as fell to the ground, keeping her tonfa above her in case another blow was sent towards her head as she fell, but to her surprise the remaining three brothers rushed in and began to fight. Now that each turtle was fighting one on one with a Foot soldier, taking the men down was much easier. Sam scooted off to the side and watched the brothers fight…well, barely. The fights were over almost as soon as they began.

Once it was confirmed that all four soldiers were knocked out, the brothers all sighed in relief.  
Mikey walked over to Sam.  
She looked up at him with concern in her eyes. "You okay?"  
He chuckled, his eyes wide in amazement. "Are you serious? You're the one that just took a pretty nasty blow!" He put his hand out to help her up.  
She took his hand and grunted a bit as she stood up. "What, that last hit? It didn't hurt as much as you think, I've been hit worse in soccer games. It just caught me off guard is all, and I didn't want to fall backwards and have four guys right on top of you. It's been a while since I've fought like that so I'm a little shaky, hehe."  
"Why have you had to fight like that ever?" Leo asked as walked over, crossing his arms.  
"I used to take some self-defense training classes."  
"Those classes teach martial arts? I thought it was more so teaching what to do when attacked by a robber and how to throw solid punches, that kind of thing."  
"Well…special request classes do" she said timidly.  
"Well they totally taught you how to be a badass!" Mikey chimed in. "That was awesome! Guys you should have seen her! She was defending herself with a gun she had got from some of the Purple Dragons members who had come up here first, like those four couldn't get anywhere near her. Once I got up her she totally landed some solid hits to all four of them once she caught them off guard!"  
"Who are the purple dragons?" asked an angry Raph.  
Sam looked up at him. "The Purple Dragons are a gang that is run by a man named Hun, who now is basically owned by Shredder. 99% of the time when you see soldiers with guns, it's Hun's guys. The actual ninjas are from the main Foot Clan branch in Japan."  
Leo gave her a weird look. "And you know this how?"  
"Hacking into documents at police headquarters" she said, followed by a beaming smile. Sam was proud of the technological skills that she had learned over the past four years.  
"…You have really strange hobbies."  
"And I think it's strange how you talk sternly like a 90 year old man" she said with an innocent smile. Leo was not amused as he continued to frown at her. Mikey's face on the other hand was covered in nothing but smiles.  
"Dude, with more training, you could possibly even catch up to our level of expertise. Back at the lair we have a dojo where I could teach you everything-"  
"HELL NO! She cannot come back home with us!"  
"Oh come one Raph! She just fought with us, what other proof do you need that she's a good guy?"  
"She has ninja skills, ridiculous strength for someone her size, and she knows more about the Foot clan than I'm comfortable with, and apparently she knows this because she's good at hacking into documents she should never get her hands on. She's provided more evidence as to why we shouldn't trust her than as to why we should! You agree with me right Donnie?...Don?"

They all turned around to see Donnie staring off into the distance. Leo walked over to him.  
"Don?"  
"She's watching us, look over there." Leo looked straight ahead in the direction that his brother was pointing and saw a thin figure staring at them, and then quickly run off, disappearing into the darkness of the night.  
"Karai…" Leo mumbled.  
"See! We can't let crazy chick number two hang out with us when crazy chick number one is still after us."  
"Dude!"

Both brothers looked over at Leo. The eldest brother stood there, contemplating what his options were. Finally, he came to a conclusion, one that he was far from thrilled about.  
He looked over at Sam. She was staring at the ground with a blank face. She had a strong feeling that this would be the last time she would ever get to talk to her new friend and she hoped that she would at least get to walk home with him before he was ripped away from her.

"You" he said as he faced the girl. She looked up at him from afar, standing silent and still.  
"…You can visit us in the lair from now on, but you need to let Mikey know when you're heading down. If you just randomly show up then I'll personally kick you out. Understand?" he said through gritted teeth.

Sam's jaw dropped slightly in disbelief in what she was hearing. On the other hand, Donnie's jaw had dropped completely, and while Mikey grew a huge smile on his face, Raph's frown grew bigger than ever before.  
"What?!" Mikey said in excitement.  
"WHAT?!" Raph snarled in furry.  
"Leo…are you sure that this is the best solution?" Donnie asked.  
Leo took a deep breath in, and slowly let it out.  
"Mikey already broke code after we told him not to go see her, so I'm sure he'll do it again" Leo said as he glared at Mikey, who pursed his lips together and stared at his feet.  
"Next time the police scanner goes off, it will be safer if Mikey is somewhere close rather than being somewhere where we would have to hunt him down, like we did tonight. Plus, Splinter has seen her up close now. If we leave and she tries to pull some type of stunt, he can handle her."  
Donnie nodded. "I see you put a lot of thought into this, alright, I support your decision." He wasn't thrilled about this decision, but his older brother made a good point. Plus, this also meant that they could keep a closer eye on this mysterious girl as well.  
"Pshh, whatever." Raph had had enough. He began to walk over towards the edge of the roof and then slid down the ladder. Even if this girl was now allowed in his home, he would do everything possible to make her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, then maybe she would get the hint that she wasn't wanted.

As Donnie and Leo turned to follow, Sam called after Leo. He turned to face her as she spoke.  
"Um, thanks, for trusting me to come into your home that is" she said with a small but innocent and sincere smile.  
Leo pursed him lips together and forced a fake smile. "Well, I didn't really have a choice" he said in a sour tone.

While Sam played it off like it was no big deal, Mikey noticed his brothers behavior. He waited and made sure that his brothers were below ground before he spoke.  
"Tch, honorable and noble leader my ass, a leader doesn't treat someone like that."  
"I don't blame them though."  
He looked at her in shock. "What?!"  
Sam gave a light disheartened smile. "I'm a stranger to them, and I didn't exactly meet them in good circumstances. Plus they're you're older brothers, so if I'm not the perfect typical girly girl who can't throw a punch and who always needs saving then I'm seen as a threat. I mean Raph makes a good point when he gets upset at what I can do. Most normal girls can't fight with tonfa and dodge punches as quickly as they can throw them. I'm sure I'd be extremely worried if someone like me became friends with Chuck as well."  
Mikey gave a small smile and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, eventually they'll soften up once they get to know you. There's already things you can talk to them about, once they get used to having you around then they'll never want you to leave."  
She laughed out loud. "Just because you want me around all the time doesn't mean that they will."  
He put his arm around her shoulder. "Heh, we'll see about that. Anyway, I'll walk you home since it's getting late."  
And the two walked back to Sam's apartment, talking about all the fun things they would do the next night when Sam would finally get a chance to enter the lair again.


	10. Chapter 10

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #10

*The next day/Saturday*

It had been a fun and peaceful morning as Mikey and Sam sat on the couch playing videogames. The two had been switching around and playing different games that they both loved. They currently were playing Drive Club and Sam was in the lead.  
"Ahhh come on, come on, come on!" Mikey chanted nervously.  
She laughed. "Chanting will get youuuuu NOWHERE!" She screamed as she won the race.  
She stood up and threw her arms up in the air, followed by her jumping up and down on the couch.  
Mikey lightly tossed his controller on the table in front of them as he shook his head and smiled.  
"Jeez, is there any game where I can prevent you from kicking my ass?"  
"Nope!" she said teasingly. "All my life I've had to learn every trick in the book in order to defeat my four brothers and get them to allow me to join them online, so now I'm UNSTOPPABLE" she said as she struck a pose with her hands on her hips.  
Mikey chuckled until he saw the score board. "Uh oh…"  
"What's wrong?" She looked up at the screen, a huge smile forming on her face. "Oh sweet! New high score!"  
"SHHHHHHH!"  
She looked at her friend. "Okay what's up? Why the shushing and not the cheering? What happened to only positive vibes?"  
"This is Raph's game, as in one of his favorite games and also the only game where he knows he can dominate and always beat us no matter how hard we try to defeat him. The last time someone beat his high score, he spent the entire next day dedicated to beating that new score. And even when he finally beat that score, it wasn't good enough for him. He spent a couple of weeks making sure that his score was so high that no one could ever come close to beating it. He's going to flip when he sees this!"  
Sam looked at him in confusion. "If it would be such a big deal to beat his high score, why are we even playing this game in the first place?"  
"You said you wanted to play a racing game, and this is one of the best ones. Plus, I didn't think that within three rounds you would have gotten a higher score than the one Raph spent weeks working to achieve."  
She shook her head jokingly. "Wow, I've never felt so insulted in my life."  
Mikey chuckled as Sam picked up the controller. She saw that all the other scores had the name RAF printed next to them, so she typed the same name into the space next to her score.  
Mikey gave her a puzzled look. "What are you doing?"  
"If Raph sees his name next to the score, then he'll just assume that this is the score that he had worked so long to get, simple as that. Now let's go do something else before he gets suspicious."

As the two turned the gaming system off and walked away in the direction of Mikey's room, Raph then happened to enter the room. He saw the Drive Club game case on the table. Realizing that he hadn't played one of his most favorite video games in a few days, he decided to play for a while. Everything was fine…until Raph beat what was his old high score.  
"Yeah!" he shouted as he threw his fist in the air. "I still got it!"

Just as he was about to add his latest high score to the top of the score board, his smile began to fade as he saw that his score wasn't in the top spot, but in the second spot. He looked at the spot at the top of the screen and his eyes went wide. He knew that he had never EVER reached a score as high as the one he was looking at. He then remembered that he had seen Sam and Mikey playing video games earlier that day and he had a hunch that Sam had been the reason his score was now only the second highest score on the board, making him furious. All his hard work and weeks filled with determination and dedication to get such a high score that only he could reach, only to be beaten by a stranger who had been playing for a few hours, and a stranger that he still saw as a threat to his family, the more he thought about it the more furious he got.

Raph stood up and stormed off towards Mikey's room, the last place he had seen the two wander off to. He shoved the door open and Saw the two sitting across from each other while reading comic books. They both looked at Raph with blank expressions. On the outside they seemed calm, but on the inside they were nervous as hell and were trying to remain calm. They were both worried about what Raph might do next.

Raph glared at them and spoke through his gritted teeth. "So, were you guys playing video games earlier?"  
The two nodded their heads.  
"Really? What did you play?"  
Sam began naming games.  
"Far Cry, The Last of Us, Call Of Duty, Wolfenstein, Assassin's Creed, Final Fantasy, Naruto, just to name a few."  
"That's all."  
Sam nodded, so far being able to maintain her blank expression. "Yeah, that's all."  
"Ever heard of Drive Club?"  
"Well yeah I've heard of it, but I haven't had a chance to play it yet."  
Raph laughed sarcastically. "Well I don't believe that bs for a second."  
Sam raised an eye brow. "I don't understand."  
"There's a new high score on my game, and I would have remembered every detail of what was happening around me if I had gotten a score that high on my own. So, tell me the truth now and admit that you played a game that you shouldn't have" he then cracked his knuckles and gave her a wicked smile, "or I'll make you tell the truth the hard way."  
Sam opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, Mikey had stood up and blurted out "It was me."  
Sam spun around to face him, and both she and Raph furrowed their brows.  
She mouthed 'what are you doing?' to Mikey, but he ignored it as he stayed focused on Raph.  
"I was playing the game earlier today before she got here since she said she hadn't had a chance to buy and play it for herself yet. I'm the one who beat your score."

Raph glared at his brother. Sadly he had nothing to prove that it had been either of them that had beaten his score, he didn't even have anything to prove that they had even played the game anytime that day, or ever for that matter. But he knew that she had done it. Mainly because he had just seen the two playing video games earlier, but also the fact that he had played this game with his siblings so many hundreds of times and they had never come anywhere close to reaching the scores that he had. The day Donnie had beat his score which sent him into his weeks' worth of gameplay trying to beat said score, that had been nothing but pure luck, Donnie even admitted that himself. So the fact that this ridiculously high score just happened to suddenly appear was very suspicious, but for now he decided to let it slide. He could tell by the girls face that she felt bad about the entire situation, and for now that would be enough to satisfy his hot temper.

"You're in my house now, so stay away from my stuff, or else we're going to have some serious problems" he said as his hands balled up into fists at his sides and as he cracked his neck. "Got it?"  
"It's his house to" she said as she nodded her head backwards towards Mikey.  
"He should know how things work around here, but if I have to beat the rules back into his head then so be it."  
For the first time since she had known him, Sam glared at Raph.  
"That's pretty harsh to say about your own brother."  
"Oh he should thank me, maybe a good beating will clear his head of everything you've done to brainwash him."  
"YUP THANKS RAPH! You're the best!" Mikey cut in, hoping to settle things.  
Raph looked back at each of them one last time. "Like I said, keep away from my stuff, and watch your back" he growled as he slammed the door behind him.

Raph instantly put his ear up to the door to hear what the two were talking about after he had just left the room. He heard Mikey's voice first.

"Dude, what were you thinking? You can't talk to him like that, not unless you have a death wish!"  
"He has no right to talk to you like that, I mean you're his brother. He's made it obvious he cares about you in his own hot headed way, so I'm shocked he would talk to you like that."  
"That's just how he is, he's the older brother who wants his space and doesn't want people near his stuff. I know he cares about each of us, but that's usually just how he is. But egging on the fight just makes things ten times worse."  
There was a pause.  
"*sigh* Alright, I'll be more careful when talking to him then."  
And after that the two then began talking about the comic books they had been reading.

Raph felt a mix of emotions. First, he was upset and pissed that his brother had lied straight to his face. Mikey had always been honest and would admit what he had done wrong, followed by him joking around and trying to make it seem like whatever he had done wrong wasn't that big of a deal, but this time he had just lied with a straight face. Raph then began to grow furious as he thought about the way his brother had been changing now that he was hanging out with this new girl, and he hated this new change. Then, he slowly began to feel excited, but for the worst reason. He began to think of the facial expression the girl had given him. Every time one of the brothers had ridiculed either Sam or Mikey, she always timidly looked at the ground because she felt guilty for what either she had done or for what Mikey had done because of her, but this time was different. Raph had really gotten under her skin this time, and in a wickedly evil way, he enjoyed that. He still viewed this girl as a threat and therefore as his enemy, and he saw it as a win on his part that he was able to make her produce such an evil expression when she glared at him.

He nastily chuckled as he walked away from the door and back out into the main living area.  
" _Heh, I better go work out and cool off before I do something I regret."_

Donnie was tinkering around with some devices at the desk in his lab when he paused as he felt a presence enter the room.  
"Uh, hey bro!"  
' _Ah, its Mikey this time'_ Donnie thought.  
He turned around to face his brother. "Alright, what do you need?"  
"Those goggles you wear so that nothing can damage your eyes."  
"Safety goggles?"  
"Yeah those!"  
Donnie chuckled. "They're in the case in the back corner. What do you need them for?"  
"I'm messing with the gaming system in my room, trying to use some hacks that Sam taught me. I just wanted a pair in case there's any sparks that fly or anything."  
His brother nodded in approval since it sounded like something Mikey would do. He wasn't a technical genius, but when it came to videogames, Mikey was pretty dang smart. When it came to cheat codes and hacking into games to get secret weapons or power ups or things of that sort, Mikey could usually figure out what to do. It might take him a long while to accomplish his task depending on how complicated it was, but Mikey had surprised all of his brothers many times with his technical skills involving videogames.  
Donnie was silent, until he saw which pair of goggles his brother took.  
"Mikey, why are you taking the smallest pair?"  
He froze as his eyes went wide. "Say what?"  
"Why are you holding a small pair of goggles?"  
"…I don't understand."  
"That case holds a handful of goggles that are big enough for all of us to use, so why are you holding one of the smaller pairs from when we were kids?"  
"That sir, is an excellent question…can I take a rain check on providing the answer?"  
Donnie's brow furrowed. "They're not for you to wear, are they?"  
"Wellllll."  
"You lied to me just so that you could bring a pair to her."  
Mikey gave his brother a serious look. "'Her' has a name you know."  
"Yeah, and 'her' just persuaded you to lie to me so she could get what she wants" he said in a sour tone.  
Mikey threw the sour tone right back at his older brother.  
"First of all, no, she didn't persuade me to do anything."  
"Do you know what persuade means?" Donnie asked with as he raised his eyebrow.  
"I do, it means she made me believe or do something by reasoning with me. ANYWAY, any and all materials she thought she would need to add rockets to her own skateboard she got from her house, but she didn't have goggles. She was going to work on her board without them because she didn't want to bother you by asking for them, that and she knew you would say no before she could even say one word. So, I offered to go get her a pair. She never made me do anything, I offered to help her."  
Donnie looked down towards the floor, trying to hide his frustration.  
"You lied to Raph earlier in order to protect her as well. Is this becoming part of a normal routine for you?"  
Now Mikey was looking at the floor. "You know about that?"  
"Leo and I happened to be in the living room when Raph was yelling at you guys, we got the gist of what happened."  
"*sigh* honestly I'm to blame for that one, I never thought that within a few rounds she would top his high score."  
"So now this is the second time you acted without thinking because of her."  
Mikey rolled his eyes. "Okay, I acted without thinking way before we ever knew she existed."  
"Fair enough" Donnie said as he nodded his head, "but that still doesn't explain why you keep lying to everyone."  
"In order to get you guys to be nice to her. I get in the beginning that you guys were all worried, but she would have done something already if she was planning something, right? I mean if she really wanted to kidnap me or come back to the lair or something crazy like that then she would have done it already, right? She's literally been down here playing videogames all morning, how dangerous can that be? If you guys gave her a chance then maybe you would see that she's not the terrible person that you think she is."  
Donnie paused, thinking of how he should respond to this. Not knowing what to do, he continued to stand still and silent.  
Mikey sighed. "I'll put these back-"  
"Take them."  
Mikey looked at his older brother, his face expressing his shock.  
Donnie continued to look down. "I'll let it slide this time, but I don't want her using my stuff after this."  
"Yeah, gotcha" Mikey mumbled as he turned and exited the room.

Once his brother had left the room and was out of sight, Donnie shut the lab door. He went back to the table and sat down. He put his elbows on the table and held his head in his hands. He wasn't sure how to handle this entire situation. He still didn't really trust or really even like this girl yet, but his brother was correct in saying that he also hadn't given her a chance. That was mainly because he didn't even know where to begin with her. It was so different when he and his brothers had first met April, she was so innocent and just happened to take their picture. The situation wasn't that serious and overall it was handled quickly and peacefully. Sam had also claimed that she just happened to find their lair, but this required her to use GPS devices and even camera detectors in order to find them, and then she tried to block them out once they had found her. She just seemed so suspicious and it made it extremely difficult for him to just casually walk over to her and start a conversation. He made a small smile as he thought of his brother's respectable confidence. Mikey could probably become friends with anyone because of how calm, collected, trusting, and friendly he was. While everyone was afraid of April telling people about what she had discovered on the night they had all met, Mikey was more worried about getting a chance to talk to her. Donnie's smile then turned into a frown as he thought of the facial expressions and body language his baby brother had just displayed moments ago. He made it visibly obvious how upset he was with how everyone was treating Sam, and that was also something to be concerned about. Donnie didn't want to lose his brother, and he knew that everyone being rude towards Sam was going to push Mikey away.

Donnie sighed and went back to tinkering around with the devices on his work table. He knew that something had to be done to help lighten the tensions within this situation, but he decided that he would worry about that another day, and for now he would just stay calm and worry about his inventions.

"You didn't tell me that they were Donnie's!"  
"It's fine, your eyes will be covered now, that's what matters."

Mikey and Sam were sitting at the kitchen table while Sam worked on adding the rockets to her skateboard.  
"No, what matters is that it's only the first day that I've been allowed down here and two of your brothers now hate me even more than they did before."  
"No they don't, they're mad at me, not you" he said with a huge smile, which slowly faded as he saw the depressed expression displayed on his friends face.  
"That doesn't make things better…" she replied.  
Mikey tried to think of how to lighten the mood.  
"Pshh, well you don't have to worry about Raph, he just hates everything the planet has to offer."  
Sam smiled lightly in return. "I guess pizza isn't something this planet has to offer then."

As the two friends joked around, they didn't realize that Leo's bedroom door was open. Being the oldest and having seniority, he was able to locate his room away from the others, so while they all had bedrooms on the right side of the lair, Leo's bedroom was on the left. There was a small five step staircase towards the back of the eatery that lead to a decent size room that he was able to call his own. At the moment, he was sitting on his bed as he cleaned and polished his katanas. He did this as silently as he could in order to listen to as much of Sam and Mikey's conversation as he could. Right now, he could hear Sam's voice.

"So, I guess Raph is the type where he never shows emotions and to an outsider he has a cold heart of stone, but deep down he actually cares about you guys more than anything?"  
"I'd say that's pretty accurate. Like he can be really fun and actually cracks the most jokes with me out of all my brothers, but he also gets ticked off quickly. Like, one moment my jokes might make him laugh, but then five minutes later he could get angry based on another joke I make. He's someone where if you've been around him long enough you just kind of figure out what to do and say and when as well."  
"Sounds complicated."  
"Tell me about it, like you have to be really careful when comforting him so that he doesn't get more upset, and you have to be careful when ridiculing him and trying to teach him what he's doing wrong and how he can improve or else-"  
"He goes over the top crazy?"  
"Bingo!"  
Sam looked up at Mikey, and for the first time she noticed that Leo's bedroom door was open, with absolutely no sound coming from the room.  
"He sounds like a hot head, no offense."  
Mikey turned around to face what Sam was looking at. He saw the open door, and out of curiosity, he continued the conversation as he wondered what his friend was up to.  
"Oh he is, I love the guy but yeah he's insane."  
"Ironically, for someone who can be as violent at the Hulk, he throws a weak punch."  
"I guess that means you weren't affected by his punch then?"  
"Well, would you feel any pain if you were hit by the Slimer monster from Ghostbusters?" she said as she winked with a serious expression at the turtle sitting across from her.  
He nodded. "But you went unconscious, how do you explain that?"  
"It's not because of his strength, it's because of where he hit me. A punch to places like the jaw or the temple can easily make someone pass out. Leo hit me way more gently than Raph did and yet I was knocked out both times. Raph might put on a show so that it seems like he's strong, but in reality his muscles seem like they're made of a green stretchy rubber material."  
"So, you're saying that Raph doesn't have any strength to him?"  
"Of course not, what would you expect from someone who fights with gardening tools?"

They both heard Leo's katanas slide into their holsters and the next thing they knew, he was walking up to them. His face was calm, but the aura in the air made it known how pissed off he was.  
"You" he pointed to Sam, "let's go." He then walked off towards the dojo.  
Sam stood up and flashed Mikey the O.K. symbol before he could say anything.

Once Sam made her way into the dojo, she stood next to Leonardo. His arms were crossed over his chest as he watched Raph train. Leo continued to face forward as he spoke.  
"Say something that you know will piss Raph off."  
Sam responded with a beaming smile as she spoke loud enough to get the hot headed turtles attention. "Hey dauntless, are you the biggest of your brothers because you have the most muscle, or because you're just that fat?"  
Leo's eyes went wide, he wasn't exactly expecting that, but he knew it would definitely do the trick. Mikey reacted the same way once he had caught up.  
"Dude, just, why?!"  
With a joyful smile, Sam pointed at Leo. "He told me to!"  
Mikey looked at his older brother with wide eyes. "What?!"  
Leo kept calm as he faced his brother. "She wants to play games, then let's see how she likes this one."  
Right on cue, Raph was now standing in front of them. "Looks like the twig has a death wish."  
She shook her head. "Oh no, having a death wish means that I would have to lose. I plan on ending with a win" she said as she gave him a wicked smile.  
Raph glared at her.  
"Pick a weapon, you have five minutes before I start kicking your butt."  
"*gasp* oh my god, I was about to tell you the same thing!"  
"Sam!" Mikey said as he pulled her back. "What are you doing?"  
"Going to go get my tonfa since I only have 5 minutes."  
"SAM."  
"Dude, I got this, just trust me. All will be explained later."  
He paused for a moment before giving her a light nod. She then ran over to the eatery where her bag was, pulled out her tonfa, and then hurried back over to the dojo.

"Alright, let's do this" she said as she walked out towards the center of the room.  
Leo and Mikey continued to watch from the side of the room. Donnie then walked over and stood next to his brothers.  
"Why are we all standing here watching Raph?"  
"Because she" as Leo nodded towards Sam, "is up to something, and Raph is going to teach her a lesson about respect."  
"And how did this happen?"  
"She was insulting him behind his back, and Mikey allowed" Leo said as he then turned and stared at his youngest brother.  
"Well" Mikey began, "she's definitely up to something. She gave me this look when we were talking that signaled to just go along with whatever she was doing, so that's what I did. She said she would explain herself afterwards."  
The three then turned towards the center of the room where Sam was facing an angry yet excited Raphael.

Raph was swinging his sai around his finger as the two prepared to fight.  
"Heh, they say that whoever gets the first punch will win the fight." He then clenched his free hand tightly, showing the veins that ran all the way up his arm.  
"Well, I'll just have to make sure I land the first punch then" Sam said with a wicked smile.

"Alright" Leo butt in, "are both parties ready?"  
Raph pulled both his sai out of their holsters while Sam tightly gripped both her tonfa handles, pressing the button on the sides of the handles and swiftly extending the length of each.

"Three, two, go!"  
That fast, Raph was charging at Sam with his sai's held sideways in his hands so that he could still throw punches.  
Sam kept her feet planted as she swiftly dodged the first punch. She dodged to the right, but she didn't attack. She then saw where the open space for the next punch was coming and ducked down. With each punch that was thrown, she was always able to detect where the next punch was coming from. No matter how quick Raph threw his punches, she somehow always found out where to go in order to dodge the attack. Finally, Raph almost got a solid hit, but Sam saw that he was slowly trying to move closer and she also saw that he was beginning to raise his leg like he was going to try and land a solid kick to her stomach. Like she suspected, he turned sideways, brought his leg up, and landed a hard and solid kick, but Sam was able to pull both tonfa in front of her in time to block the kick, though it did push her back a decent distance away from where she was standing.

"What? You can talk big but don't know how to fight?" he called over to her.  
She just smiled back at him. "You said whoever lands the first punch will win right? Guess that means I still have a chance to win."  
Raph gave her an evil grin. He thought the fight would have been over by now. He knew that she was quick based on what he had witnessed when she fought against that Foot soldier the night before, but he didn't expect her to be this swift.  
As Sam slowly began walking backwards, Raph charged towards her again.  
By the time Raph caught up and began throwing punches again, Sam had moved so far back that each time a punch missed her, it slammed into the wall. It was obvious that Raph was growing more and more furious as the fight went on.  
" _Why isn't she attacking? How does she expect to land a punch if she just stands and dodges my attacks? She's not even trying to block, she's specifically just dodging and …oh!"  
_ Raph quickly backed away. Sam gave him a confused look.  
"He finally figured it out" Donnie claimed as Leo nodded. Mikey just stood there, confused as to what everyone else knew that he didn't.

Sam sighed. "I guess you discovered my motive?"  
Raph nodded. "You're not going to get me that easily, dodging my attacks until I tire out."  
"Oh, I was actually waiting for one of your fists to get stuck in the wall" she said as pointed to the holes he had begun to make. Raph hadn't realized how deep the indents in the wall were until she had pointed it out. "Once you slipped up for a second I was going to attack, but you saw through my plan."  
Raph chuckled. "Did you really think it would be that easy?"  
"Guess not" she replied as she rushed towards him.

For the first time since the fight began, Sam actually started to attack. She wanted to hold back from actually fighting as much as possible since Raph's strength would make blocking and landing attacks much more difficult. It would be easier to attack an opponent who was the same size and weight as her, but hitting an opponent that was much bigger and stronger than herself would hurt her more than it would the enemy. Sam wasn't sure exactly where to try and land a hit on Raph where it wouldn't hurt her to much as well, and it had to be a hit from her tonfa or else the attack would really backfire and end up hurting her.

After a few punches, she noticed that he kept attacking up high, leaving the bottom half of his body wide open. Raph threw a left hook, aiming to use his sai to knock one of her tonfa out of her hands. He expected her to lean back again and just dodge, but this time she ducked down. It was risky, because ducking down to attack meant that she wouldn't be able to see where his next attack was coming from, but if she was quick enough, she would be able to land a hit near his feet, and that's exactly what she did. As soon as she ducked down, she jabbed the head of the tonfa into Raph's left foot, but at the same time while Sam was blinded from any incoming attacks, Raph was able to use the handle of his sai and jab it into Sam's left shoulder.

They both quickly leaped to their rights, creating a small gap between them. While Raph only felt some pain in his foot, he could still walk it off and fight. Sam on the other hand was really struggling to gain control over her left arm. The jab hurt more than it normally would due to Raphs incredible strength. Raph noticed her wincing at her sore arm and instantly took advantage of this. He quickly walked towards her and continuously aimed for her left side knowing that it would be much more difficult for her to block if she continued to try and block that one side. Sam knew she had to think quickly or else she would tire out soon. While Sam had incredible speed and strength for someone her age and size, she hadn't fought like this in a long time, and with her daily physical activities she at least got some breaks. Knowing she would tire out soon, she took a chance and ducked again, this time aiming for the back of Raph's right knee. If she hadn't been hurt than she would have been quicker, but just as she swung her right tonfa around to connect with the back of Raph's right knee, he brought that same leg up and then quickly slammed his foot down to knock the tonfa out of her hand. As Raph brought his leg down and tried to get back in ready position, Sam had already stood up right in front of him. She knew that she couldn't throw a punch at him unless she wanted to shatter her hand, so she went with her gut. Before Raph could event react, Sam slapped him right across the face.

"Ooohhh" Donnie said with his chin resting on his knuckle. Leo winced with him after witnessing and hearing the *slap* sound after the girl had landed the attack.  
"HA*slap*" as Mikey slapped his hand to his mouth so that no one heard him laugh at what he just saw. He never thought he would ever see Raph get bitch slapped, but damn was it hilarious.

Raph stood there, frozen like a statue.  
Sam had jumped back some after she landed the attack and stood there waiting for a reaction…and she continued to stand there. She waited for her opponent to move, but he just continued to stand there as he processed what had just happened to him.

Sam then ran over to Mikey and basically started patting him down as soon as she got over to him.  
"Whoa dude, what are you-"  
"Looking for a weakness."  
Leo and Donnie gave her a weird face, a bit weirded out by what she was doing, but also very intrigued at the same time. They would never admit it, but they both were extremely impressed with what they had witnessed so far. They never imagined the fight would last this long, or that there would even be a fight period. Leo expected Raph to get a good solid punch or two in, for Sam to beg for mercy, and then they would ridicule her about how this would happen every time she was caught being disrespectful towards their family. But Sam had held up a pretty decent fight, so he decided to just sit back and watch the show.

Sam continued to pat Mikey across different parts of his body until she found a somewhat softer spot on his plastron near his waist. It was still solid of course, but it was a bit softer than the rest of his chest.  
"Um, find what you're looking for?"  
She gave a small smile and nodded.

When Sam turned back around, she saw that Raph was still frozen, but now his hand was gently cupping the area where he had been slapped, as if he was still trying to process what had happened to him.  
Sam smiled as she rolled her eyes and called out to the red bearing turtle.

"Hey dauntless, I'm the one who beat your high score in Drive Club within an hour of playing the game!" she shouted.  
Raph then turned around to look at her. He glared at her, and this glare was nastier than any other glare he had ever given her since the two had met. He was a mixed of embarrassed and pissed that she was able to keep up with him, and once he processed that he had just been bitch slapped, he couldn't control his anger. Because of this, his fighting style became very sloppy, and Sam used this to her advantage. Both Sam's left shoulder and right hand were very sore. Nothing was broken or seriously damaged, but very sore, so gripping her tonfa would be very difficult. She decided to momentarily go back to dodging Raph's attacks, but she could also feel herself getting slower. Right now they were both showing their weaknesses, and they both were trying to take advantage of this as best as they could.

As Sam dodged a punch that came in towards her right, her reaction time was slow and the next thing she knew she was being pulled forward and was hit in the stomach with Raph's elbow. As he then let her go, he expected her to feel winded and to stay put as he spun on his right heel and brought his left leg around with him to land a blow to her stomach, but instead she left her right foot planted and pivoted backwards only with her left leg. Just as Raph was bringing his leg down after missing his target, Sam was now doing the opposite of what Raph had just done. While he was bringing his leg back down, Sam swung her left leg backwards while turning on her planted right foot and used her left foot to land a blow right to where the somewhat softer spot on his plastron should have been. She had no idea if the softer spot near the waist line of Mikey's plastron would be on the same location of Raph's plastron or if there was a softer spot at all, but at the moment it was all she had in order to try and win this fight.

Luckily, it had been in the same spot, and this blow actually did a decent job at knocking the wind out of Raph. He took a few seconds to hold his waist as he tried to catch his breath. Since Sam was much weaker than him, it didn't take him to long to recuperate and get ready to fight once again, but wow that had been scary. He couldn't think of a time where he had been hit in that exact location on his plastron, and he couldn't remember the last time someone hit him in a way that left him so winded. He hated to admit it, but this was starting to become more of an enjoyable fight than it was infuriating. Sadly, Sam was at her limit. When she saw that Raph was about to come over and start attacking again, she threw her hands up in defeat.

"OKAY, okay you win! I surrender to the almighty dauntless!" she said as she bowed down in front of him on the ground. She did so mockingly, but Raph could tell that she was being serious in wanting to stop the fight.  
"Had enough?" he said in a mocking tone.  
"Oh yeah" she replied as she sat up, holding her knee. "I'd love to try and keep going, but sadly any attack I land on you will continue to hurt me more, at least while I'm this twiggy" she said in a sour tone, "and I don't want to cause to much damage to my body. I mean hey I have a game tomorrow, I don't want to lose my future career because of one fight where I never had a shot of winning from the start."

"Okay wait." Donnie then jumped down and began walking over to where the two opponents were standing, with Leo and Mikey following right behind him.  
"If you knew there was no way you could win this fight, why would you even think of trash talking Raph? You had to know it would lead to this."  
"Well," Sam began, "I wasn't sure what exactly would happen, but I was ready for whatever punishment was in store for my behavior. That and I was mainly just trying to get a rise out the one listening."  
"Wait, you were insulting Raph in order to annoy Leo?" Mikey asked.  
She turned towards Leo. "I'm not stupid, I saw that your door was open, and there was no sound coming from the room, so there was a very high chance that you were listening in on what we were talking about."  
Leo turned his head, pretending to look at something that had caught his eye in the pipes above them.  
"So if you weren't trying to mess with me, why were you so serious when you got over here?" Raph asked.  
Sam chuckled. "To get you pumped to fight me. If Leo just said to fight me then you would instantly say no, so I had to be a bitch" she said with a beaming smile.  
"So what was your overall goal in doing all this?" Donnie asked. "I'm sure there's more to it than just annoying Leo and getting to fight Raph."

Sam gave them a playful and triumphant smile. "I got all of you to talk to me."  
All of them but Mikey gave her a confused look.  
"Ahhhh" Mikey began, "you knew that Leo was listening in on our conversation, and as a test to see how he would react, you said things that you knew would annoy him which would then lead him to come out and confront you. You weren't exactly expecting to fight Raph, but since that was the result, you did what you had to in order to make sure the fight would happen, aka interacting with Raph. And Donnie walking over and joining the group and questioning you was probably just a bonus."  
The remaining brothers stood their speechless. They weren't used to hearing Mikey sound so intelligent.  
Sam nodded with a shocked expression. "Couldn't have said it better myself."  
She reached her knuckle out and the two fist bumped.

Leo nodded, but he had one final thought that hadn't been answered.  
"Okay, one last question." Sam turned her head towards him. "If you wanted to get a rise out of me in the beginning, why did you insult Raph and not me?"  
"Easy, if I insulted you then it would be too obvious that I knew you were listening in on our conversation. Plus I had a strong feeling that insulting Raph would lead to a situation like this, whereas throwing insults at Donnie would lead more to just a formal apology and the whole thing would have ended at that. This scenario ended with all three of you actually starting a conversation with me."  
"My best friend is smarter than yours!" Mikey shouted as he triumphantly threw his hands up in the air.

Leo and Raph both nodded towards Sam with blank expressions as they began to exit the room. Neither of the two brothers was sure how to feel. They both felt defeated and they definitely didn't like that, but at the same time they both couldn't stop thinking about everything they had both seen and heard from the girl. Not only had she done a great job of fighting an opponent where she was at a huge disadvantage, but she had planned out the entire situation before and ended up getting what she wanted. She may have lost that individual fight, but overall she had won the full battle. Raph was determined to make sure she wouldn't win the overall war, whereas Leo wondered if the tension really needed to continue.

The two were so caught up in their thoughts that neither of them had seen what Donnie had. The nerdy brother was the only one who saw the glimmer in Sam's eye, and how hard she was fighting to conceal her smile when she heard Mikey call her his best friend. Donnie thought back to his earlier thoughts about whether their friendship was a good thing or not. He knew that Mikey truly cherished it, but he never knew how Sam felt. Based on what he had just seen, he had a feeling that she was also very grateful to have the orange bearing turtle in her life. He overheard the two talking as he walked out of the dojo and headed towards his lab.

"Come on Sam, let's get back to working on your skateboard!"  
"Hmm?" she said a bit dazed, "Skateboard, right! Let's go!"  
And with that, everyone went back to pick up on where their day had left off.

*Later that day, closer to nighttime*

Donnie was happy with what he had accomplished that day. He had been tinkering around with some of the equipment that he hoped to one day use in what was supposed to become the med wing, but it was getting late, so he wanted to start closing up shop before he fell asleep and would then wake up to a huge mess in the middle of the night. He began putting tools back into drawers and putting equipment back up on shelves.

He walked over to a shelf to put some small machines back in their places. As he was organizing what went where, he heard a rustling noise behind him. He quickly turned around, but no one was there. He slowly turned around and then swiftly turned back to face the center of the room. In doing so, he caught a frightened Sam standing towards the wall on the opposite side of the room holding a pair of goggles in one hand and a strap in the other.

Usually Sam would try to play off what had happened with a joke, but she could read Donnie's body language and facial expressions all too well, and it was obvious that he was furious.

"Why?"  
She paused. "Um, what exactly doe-"  
"As in why are you sneaking into my lab?"  
"Uh, well-"  
"See no, there's no correct answer because you shouldn't be in here." Donnie had tried to stay calm each time the girl had done something that irked him and his brothers, but this had been the last straw for him.  
"Raph verbally fought you earlier because you had touched something that was his, so what makes you think it's okay to sneak in to my lab? I mean this is the only place besides my room that is like my sanctuary, my utopia even, which means that if I don't give you permission to come in here then you need to stay out! I mean, is this like your hobby? Do you enjoy poking into other people's personal lives and taking their belongings? Please, tell me what your reason is for purposefully sneaking into my lab and doing something else that you know you shouldn't be doing, especially after I strictly told Mikey not to let something like this happen again."

After Donnie had stopped laying into the girl he then noticed that she wasn't smiling, she wasn't responding with any sarcastic comments in a mocking tone, and she wasn't trying to run and hide. She just stood there. Her eyes were glued to the floor and her hands seemed a bit shaky. Finally, she gained the courage to talk to the turtle.

"I just…I didn't want you to get mad at him again. I didn't know he was going to do what he did earlier in lying to get the goggles for me to use, and I know you were probably upset with him doing that. I don't want you guys to keep getting upset at him, he's just trying to be a nice guy. So, even though you hate my guts, I took the risk in sneaking in to get another strap to fix the goggles. I went adjust them and the strap snapped and I didn't want you to get mad at him again. I'm sorry."  
She laid the goggles and the strap down on the table and turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait."  
Sam paused, but continued to face the door. She was too afraid to continue facing Donnie.

Donnie took a deep breath as he thought about what he had just done. More than anything he was hurt when she said that he hated her. He knew that yelling at her like that was wrong. He basically had just let out all the thoughts he had been storing away about this whole situation, but he knew that wasn't right. After a few seconds, he carefully chose his words and began to talk again.

"So, that's one of the very rare occasions where I turn into Raph, and I apologize for that. I get that Mikey is a good hearted guy and that he just wanted to help you out, but I also don't like strangers invading my space and using my stuff. Then again, this whole situation is due to me still treating you like a stranger. So, in order to somewhat try and fix that, if you ever need anything from my lab, you're free to come in and use whatever you need.

Sam turned around in annoyance.  
"Seriously? Dude don't get my hopes up like that just to be like 'hey gotcha' and it all be fake" she scowled.  
He tilted his head in confusion. "I'm not joking, as long as you tell me what you're taking, then I'm honestly saying you're allowed in here."  
Sam's eyes went wide. "But…you have super awesome stuff…you'll let me use your super awesome stuff?"  
"Yes."  
"You swear?"  
"I swear."  
"…110% positive?"  
"If you keep asking then I'm going to change my mind."  
Sam smiled a huge smile that reached from one side of her face to the other.  
In return, Donnie also gave her a small smile. "Oh, I don't hate you by the way."  
"Oh, okay. Not sure where that came from, but that's cool."  
"Well you're the one that just said that I hated you."  
Sam pointed towards herself. "I said that you hated me?"  
"Yup."  
"I did?"  
"Let's not do this again please!"  
"Oh…well thanks again!" Sam's face was turning redder and redder as she quickly walked out the room, embarrassed that she had accidentally spoken something that she had been keeping in her thoughts.

Once Sam had left the room, Donnie went back to organizing his lab. He wanted to be strict about the rules of his lab like he always had, but seeing that expression on her face broke him. Even though it wasn't the smiley expression she had on her face when Mikey had called her his best friend, this depressed look showed how much she truly cared about Mikey just as much and the happier expression had. Donnie could truly tell that she cared about Mikey's relationship with the rest of his family and that she had been hurting from the way Leo, Raph, and himself had been arguing with him about being friends with Sam. That's why he broke and decided to let her come into the lab. If Mikey had bonded with her by letting her in and talking with her, then maybe giving her a chance would also allow him to understand this bond that the two had and why they both cared so much for the other.

He smiled and chuckled to himself.  
"Heh, things are going to get very interesting with her around."

 **Thank you to those who are still reading my story! If any of you get a chance, are there spots where I'm doing well, doing not so well? Are the fight scenes decent at least? I'm new to all of this, so if you have any comments or complaints then please tell me, if you'd like to that is.**

 **Thank you again for continuing to read my story even though I'm taking forever to update. Hopefully this chapter makes up for lost time and meets expectations .**


	11. Chapter 11

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #11

*Later that next day/Sunday evening*

Sam had finally finished adding the new rockets to her skateboard late last night and she couldn't wait to finally test them out this evening. She and Mikey had begun their training that afternoon, (luckily she had an earlier soccer game that weekend which meant she could spend the rest of the day in the lair) and currently they were on break, though this break was also due to both friends wanting to try out the new board as well. The two were standing in the dojo as Mikey began giving instructions.

"Alright, you have to be careful in the beginning because there's going to be a huge kick from the force from the rockets, which is going to make it really hard to maintain balance and speed. So for now, let's just practice getting you to maintain balance in the air."

Mikey pulled his board from off his back and placed it on the ground.  
"You have the device right? And you turned it on?"  
In order to get the rockets to work, Donnie had originally created a small device with an on and off switch that his brother could keep in his pocket. This way, if Mikey just wanted to skate around without using the rockets then he could do so. If the switch was turned on, then as soon as pressure was added to the board, the rockets would start working. Sam had studied the design of both Mikey's skateboard and of the control device and built her model based on the design that Donnie had created years ago.

Sam pulled her control device out of her back pack and turned the rockets on.  
"I'm all set." She then put the device back into her bag.  
"Alright, so first just practice getting your board to levitate off the ground some."  
He then stood on his board, his weight activating the rockets. Slowly the board lifted him a couple feet off the ground. He then stared at Sam to signal that it was her turn to try. She placed her board on the ground and stepped onto it as she slowly started to rise off the ground as well.  
"There you go, nice start. You might want to stop now though."  
"Ummm, how do I stop?" Sam had now passed where Mikey's spot in the air was as she continued to slowly rise up and up.  
"Hop off quick."  
She jumped forward and her board fell to the floor.

"Heh, guess you need to weigh more than a twig if you want to gain control" Raph said in a nasty tone from the living room. He was sitting on the couch in front of the television as he continued to fight his hardest to gain the top spot in Drive Club, just like he had been doing all day. At times he could still hear Sam and Mikey conversing in the other room, and he never missed a chance to throw some type of insult at Sam.

Mikey just rolled his eyes as he tried his best to ignore his brother.  
"Try again. You have to make sure your knees are a bit bent as the board begins to rise or else it will just keep going up, up, up. If you stand straight and tall then the board will continue to rise, but once you bend your knees some it helps to maintain what height you want to stop or continuing rising at. I'm not exactly sure how all that works and makes sense, but it's what I've learned in all the years that I've been doing this."

Sam got her board ready and tried again. She stood straight as she first stepped on her board, and once she got about a foot off the ground she bent her knees some. She was still a bit shaky, but she had stopped the board from rising any further.  
"Nice! On to step two, carefully moving forward. Once you get off the ground and reach the height that you want, you then have to slightly lean forward on your board. But be careful because-"  
That fast Sam had already tried leaning forward, but she had leaned a bit too far, and her board had sent her flying into the other room. Luckily she had leaped off the board before it had slammed into the far wall past the living room.  
Mikey sprinted into the living room while Raph laughed as he continued to play his videogames on the couch.  
"Sam, you alright?" he asked with concern.  
Of course, Sam with her typical 'I don't care, it's no big deal' type attitude replied sarcastically.  
"Peachy!"  
Mikey smiled at her. "Right, I have to keep reminding myself that I don't have to worry about you getting scared of anything or freaking out about something that's potentially dangerous. I'm sure you've done worse."  
"Oh trust me I have" she replied with a chuckle.

"Twigs do crack easily" Raph called out.

Mikey closed his eyes as he tried to contain his frustration. The entire time Mikey had been training with Sam, all Raph had done was mock her and throw as many complaints and insults towards her as he could. Splinter wouldn't have let him get away with this, but at the moment he was meditating elsewhere throughout the sewers. There were a few different places underground he would venture off to where it was much quieter than it was at home. At least the other brothers just went and kept to themselves, but Raph purposefully made his presence known, and for the worst reason. Mikey knew that Raph was still upset about everything that had happened the day previous, both about the videogame situation and Mikey's lies, and also that Sam had provided more of a fight than Raph would like to admit. So, as his revenge, he was verbally disrespecting the girl.  
As much as Mikey wanted to continue working with Sam on how to maintain control of her board, he could see that certain wires needed to be fixed after the two hard hits that the board had just received, so he decided that maybe it was time to head back to the dojo for more training.

"Come one Sam, let's get back to work. Next break we can go back and fix your board."  
She picked up her board and saluted him. "Yes sir!"

As the two walked across the room and through the large circular opening that lead into the dojo, Sam glimpsed over all the weapons that lined the walls of the opening. She was shocked at how many weapons these guys owned and wondered where they had found them all. As these thoughts swirled around in her head, she stopped and stared at one weapon in particular that caught her eye. Most weapons that were used in pairs were lined along the wall with their other half, but down towards the bottom center of the left wall was a lone sai. In the center of the left wall there were pairs of sai's starting at the top and leading all the way down to the bottom. The largest pair was at the top and as the pairs went down they slowly got smaller and smaller, the smallest being the one sai at the very bottom. It seemed a bit dusty since it probably hadn't been used in a long while based on its size. The handle was a bright red color and had a black engraving of the letters "C.A.P." going from the top to the bottom of the handle.

Mikey turned around once he realized that he had lost the girls attention.  
"Sam?"  
"Is that Raph's?" she asked as she pointed to the lone sai.  
Of course Raph was already walking over to where they were standing once he heard his name.  
"Is what Raphs?" he snarled.  
He looked at what Sam was pointing at and replied with a mix of annoyance and confusion in his voice.  
"Yeah, obviously it's mine. Who's askin-"  
"How long have you had it?"  
Her face was filled with worry and concern, but Raph could have cared less.  
"I don't know."  
"Why haven't you been taking care of it?"  
"What?"  
"Why is it dusty and the blade dull?"  
"Because it is."  
"Where'd you find it?"  
"On the ground."  
"How'd you get it?"  
"None of your business!"

As the two argued, Mikey noticed that Sam's hands were lightly shaking.  
"Sam, you okay?"  
"No she's not! Her family obviously didn't teach her about respecting people's privacy!"  
"Dude can't you just answer some of the questions?!"

Sam clenched her fists together after the comment Raph made about her family, but she took a deep breath and was able to maintain control of herself.

"I'm fine, and he's right."  
Raph and Mikey both turned towards her with slightly shocked expressions. Did she just agree with Raph, and when he could hear her? Raph was used to her replying sarcastically or by using a joke to mock him, but she actually listened and agreed with him.

"He was nice enough to admit that it was his, so he answered one of my questions. I'll just leave it at that." She forced a fake smile and turned towards Mikey. "Come on, let's get back to training."  
He replied with a gentle smile. "Yeah, let's go. Oh I made a list of all the cool moves I'm going to eventually teach you!"

The two then walked into the dojo. Sam could feel Raph's eyes glaring at her as she walked away from where they had all been standing. Eventually he went back to playing his videogames, and Sam couldn't have been more relieved. Seeing that sai really messed with her head. She hadn't seen that in so long and she so badly wanted to tell Mikey that she just wanted to go home. It had been a long time since she had looked back on the memories of when that sai was in her life, and seeing it so suddenly and without any type of warning was flooding her memory with flashbacks that she wasn't prepared to see. On top of that, Raph being a dick about it AND throwing an insult towards her family just brought on even worse feelings of anger. But luckily Raph had dropped things and went back to playing videogames, and moreover she had her new best friend. Thank goodness he was just being his dorky self that knew how to make her laugh and feel comfortable to bring her back to her senses. He didn't realize it, but him being him was literally saving her right now. She was afraid to think what could have happened if Mikey hadn't been in the room while the argument had gone down, but for now she was going to continue to have as many positive thoughts as possible. She had already cast everyone else out because of her past and she didn't want it to tear her best friend away either.

*Friday evening/ school ends*

The bell rung and soon the entire school building was filled with noise as students were packing up their belongings and shoving their chairs under their desks so that they could run and catch up to talk with their friends. It was yet again another Friday night and everybody was excited for the plans they had in store. Sam listened to all the commotion as she leaned up against her locker in the hallway. She was currently using her spare phone to map and track locations that were usually hot spots for criminals since her and Mikey had some fun plans in store for that night. She was so absorbed in what she was doing that she didn't notice the four guys that walked over to her until she head the *slam!* of a lacrosse stick against the locker in front of her, the stick passing right by the front of her face.  
"Dang, you didn't even flinch! How do you do that?"  
Sam smiled as she looked up at Kyle, the most energetic of the four boys.

The four Asian males in front of her were all members of her soccer team that she was a part of outside of school. Key, Kris, Kyle and Kevin had known Sam for years and were some of the few people who actually talked to her in school. The only time they ever talked to her was when she was the only one in the hallway or if they got paired up in class, that and of course they talked to her at games and practices, but that's where the conversations would end. Them being on the same soccer team was the main reason they talked to her, but they were also some of the handful of people her age she had known since she was a kid. Each of them had siblings who had been friends with Jamie, Amber, Brian, and some now still friends with Jay.

Key walked over and threw his arm around Kyle's shoulder.  
"Gee, you treat girls like that and you wonder why you're still single" he said mockingly. "So Sam, you coming to the final game today? You'll be surrounded by mostly Asian people" he said with a smirk.  
Jokingly, Sam put her hand over her heart. "Oh goodness, you know that's my dream come true, how could I ever resist?" Key rolled his eyes and smiled before going back to messing with Kyle.  
"What's that?" Kevin asked. He participated in many of the same academic clubs as Sam and was interested in the gadget she was using.  
"Just an old phone I re-wired and sometimes use for simple things like GPS."  
"You going somewhere?"  
"Just looking for some places to hangout tonight."  
He gave her a confused look. "I thought you were coming to the game."  
"I am, but Jay is heading out with his group afterwards and I'd rather not be the awkward…whatever wheel I'll be since everyone in their group is dating someone now."  
"Oh, so you're going out afterwards" he said as he raised his eyebrows in shock.  
"Yeah."  
"You're going out with someone" Brad smirked.  
"I am. With me, myself and I. The best trio you'll ever meet."  
"You're behavior says otherwise madam."  
"Ex-squeeze me?"  
"You didn't even notice us walk up behind you, and you ALWAYS deflect any move I make. And it's not easy being able to deflect THESE!" he shouted as he showed off his muscles.  
"Better confess now before I tell the future brother in law" Kris smirked. Kris was the younger brothers to Jay's girlfriend.  
"…you wouldn't…"  
"Then it looks like you better confess."  
"*sigh* okay I may have made a new friend recently."  
"OOOOHHHH!" Key and Kyle went crazy as they put their hands over their mouths. Kris and Kevin who were usually the somewhat calmer ones of the group even joined in on teasing her.  
"Wow, and big brother doesn't know a thing! It would be such a shame for him to find out."  
"Dude, Kris c'mon. I mean it's no big deal like we just met…a few weeks ago…I think?"

Sam had been spending so much time with her new friend that she honestly had lost track of the time. How long had she and Mikey been hanging out? She knew it had been about a week now that she had been hanging out in the lair, but she couldn't recall how long the two had been hanging out altogether.

Kris made a serious face now, leading the other three to do the same.  
"Spill, where'd you meet?"  
"Subway."  
"Were you alone?"  
"I was traveling by myself but the area was crowded."  
"How old is he?"  
"15."

She then felt Key put his right arm over her shoulders and Kyle put his left arm around her waist.  
"So it's a he?" they asked in unison.  
Sam froze as she realized what she had said. Usually she was calm and collected in situations like this, but lately she found herself slipping more and more. Was a new best friend that much of a distraction?

"Yes…it's a he."  
"OOOHHHH!"

The four boys continued to tease Sam as they all exited the building. They each waved goodbye to each other, but Kris called out to her once the other three had walked away some.  
"Don't worry, we'll keep your secret, just be careful okay?"  
She smiled playfully. "Am I not always careful?"  
He smiled as he looked down and then back at her, his hands tightly holding onto the straps of his backpack.  
"You are, but…it's just been awhile."  
"What do you mean?"  
"You being this energetic and happy. Before you say anything" he said with his hands up in defense, "I'm not saying you're always down in the dumps or anything, but you've just…been on your own for a while. I haven't seen you this goofy since, well, before everything happened. I just don't want you to let your guard down. I know some shitty guys and I just don't want you hanging around anyone like them."  
Sam's smile shrunk, but still remained on her face.  
"Don't worry, just because I found someone who has the same interests as me and is easy to talk to doesn't mean I'm going to go soft and allow them to do whatever they want to me. I still know how to kick ass and look for red flags. I got this" she said, swiping her hands over her shoulders.  
Kris laughed so loud he had to instantly cover his mouth. He wasn't used to seeing her act so silly anymore and it was hilarious to see her act this way again.  
He reached his arm out and Sam walked forward as the two hugged. As the two let go and Kris turned to go join his friends, she said some last words of thanks to her childhood friend.  
"Thanks for still caring, even though I'm sure Jay asked you to check up on me."  
"Honestly he did, since he knows I look after you like you're my own sister. But I'm glad I did."  
He turned to go jog after his friends. "I've missed you kid!" he said as he took off.  
"You can't call me kid when we're the same age!" she called out to him.  
She saw him turn his head back for one last smile, and then he turned a corner and was gone.

As Sam walked towards her apartment building, she began to process what Kris had told her. He missed her? She had never left, she had been here the whole time. Even during her dark days she had been here, it was everyone else who had turned on her. She was confused at what he had meant by that, that and all the comments about her being so happy and fun again. Jay had said that the last time they hung out as well. She hadn't really noticed a change in herself until she realized what Kyle had been talking about earlier. She froze in place along the street as the thoughts processed through her head. He was right, all four of the boys had walked right up behind her and she hadn't really paid any attention to who it was. Usually she was always on alert of her surroundings, and knowing that her being so wrapped up in her plans with Mikey for later that night had distracted her like that began to worry her. She then remembered the previous weekend when she had been fighting along-side her new best friend and made note of her composure then, and as she thought of other moments like this she began to calm down and started to walk again.  
" _Okay, I haven't forgotten all I've been taught, I just need to be more aware. I can still be happy and excited, I just can't let my emotions get in the way. I still have to be very cautious of my surroundings I also need to find ways to prepare myself for sudden situations that require quick thinking. I definitely need a refresher on that."_

The rest of the way home Sam couldn't keep herself from smiling. As she continued to process what the boys had told her, she was now really beginning to notice the effects of her friendship with Mikey. She had been distracted because of her plans for later that night, which was a first for her because until what she assumed had been a matter of weeks ago, she never had plans. She was thrilled knowing that she would continue to have this excitement every night since her and Mikey always hung out together. He was literally the perfect friend for her to, not only because they both had a lot of the same interests, but also because he seemed to egg on her inner adrenaline junkie self. Instead of reprimanding her for jumping roof tops and for sneaking into buildings, he joined her in doing so. And now he was actually turning her into even more of an adrenaline junkie by helping her train and even by helping her master her skills on her newly updated skateboard.

She realized that for the first time in a very long time that she felt feelings of safety and comfort that she hadn't felt in a long time. Thanks to Mikey she was never alone because she was either with him or thinking about him as she looked into places to go or for things to do with him. She wasn't even upset that the four childhood friends she had just talked to never even mentioned her coming to hang out with them until their game started because she knew that she was already heading somewhere else. She was a bit hurt that Kris still only saw her as a sister, but at the same time she had been so preoccupied lately that she hadn't really been thinking of romantic feelings towards anyone, so it didn't bother as much as it had in the past.

When she got to her room she realized that she had received a message on her phone from Mikey asking if she was okay. She was supposed to head straight home after school, get what she needed for that night, and then head down to the sewers. As she updated Mikey on what had happened, that quickly she forgot all about past romances and was only focused on getting ready as quickly as she could so that she could go see her best friend.


	12. Chapter 12

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #12

 ***Late Friday Night***

Sam and Mikey were both laying across the couch, Sam's back up against the left arm and Mikey's up against the right. Their legs laid out across the couch as the two faced each other. They both held their own white boards and markers. Mikey had learned Japanese while learning the ways of ninjutsu with his family, and Sam had learned some Korean from her adopted siblings, so the two were slowly teaching some words and phrases from the language they knew to the friend sitting across from them.

Sam picked up a card from the table.  
"The next word-phrase is…hello."

The two then began writing what they believed should have been the correct words of the language they were learning on their white boards. Sam lifted hers first.  
The board read:

 *** こんにちは**  
 **Konnichiwa ***

Mikey looked at the board and gave her a thumbs up. Sam had started lightly studying the language since she would be taking the AP Japanese test during her senior year of high school, so she was doing a pretty good job at correctly spelling words, both the kanji for the words and in their Romanized forms.  
Sam nodded towards Mikey.  
"Alright, let's see what you've got."  
Mikey's board read:

 ***여보세요**  
 **Yeoboseyo***

Sam tapped her fingers against each other which made Mikey confused.  
"Did I get it wrong? I could have sworn I had this one right."  
Sam tilted her head some.  
"Well technically this is correct since the card didn't specify the situation. Usually people say yeoboseyo when they're on the phone. Do you know how people greet each other face to face?"  
Mikey froze for a second and then began writing on his white board. He then flipped the board around, it now read:

 ***안녕**  
 **Annyeong***

Sam leaned her fist forward and the two fist bumped.  
"Well look at you, only studying for a week and you've already learned so much."  
"Heh, don't tell my brothers. They'll literally make the biggest deal out of me learning anything within a week."  
"Speaking of your brothers…" she turned her head and looked all around the room for any sign of the others and Mikey searched as well. "I think we're free to go."  
He nodded and the two stood up.

Without hesitation they both got out their boards, ran over toward the nearest exit, and took off. The rockets on both boards activated and sent the two of them speeding down the tunnels of the sewers. Throughout that week the two had mapped out various escape routes for moments like this where they needed to meet quickly. They would never tell the other three, or anyone for that matter, but Mikey hadn't just been training Sam so that she could defend herself, he wanted her as a teammate when kicking bad guy butt as well. He had been teaching her different tactics to use both to defend herself in one-on-one and in group battles. He had also helped her learn to maintain control of her skateboard for quick getaways.

Once they reached the intended manhole cover, they both climbed up the ladder that lead to the surface and then traveled on up to the top of the building in front of them. They both started setting up for that night as they talked.

"Not gonna lie, moving at that speed makes me feel like a total badass" Sam said as she checked all the devices that she had brought with her in her back pack.  
"You're welcome for that!" Mikey replied as he pat down his pockets, making sure that all weapons he brought with him were secure.  
"I hate your man shorts" she said playfully, putting her brown hair back into a ponytail and clipping back what little of the side bangs that she had.  
"Hey, what did my man shorts ever do to you?"  
"They have hella pockets! It's not fair, guys get tons of pockets on their pants, and I'm stuck with this!" she said as she tugged at the fake stitched on pockets of her black jeggings. "Like who came up with this?"  
"The people that make bags?"  
She pointed at him in approval. "Exactly! And it sucks, they make it so that woman purposefully have to buy designer bags. But I don't like their bags, so instead I got this beauty!" She said as she turned around and pointed to her amazing back pack that could hold almost any and everything in it.  
"You still didn't have to hate on my man shorts though" he pouted.  
She turned around and smiled. "Alright, I apologize for hating on your man shorts. Your man shorts are alright, everyone else's man shorts can kiss my ass. Better?"  
"Better! Alright, so where are we going? Anyone ready to meet our fists yet?"

Sam pulled out her fixed phone and began typing away.  
"Watcha doin?"  
"I'm trying to connect my device to police phones, radios, cameras, etc. within their building. If they're talking about a possible robbery or that someone's cat got stuck in a tree, we'll know about it before they can even officially send a team out to go help. I'm sure we can get there sooner than they would anyway. Here, you can watch video footage from this" she said as she handed him a small tablet. "Once I play around with this for a few minutes, you'll be able to view any conversations being held at police headquarters."

It was about 11:00 at night when the two began listening in for any information on local crimes and finally around 11:45 the two heard some interesting information.

"Hey Sam, you might want to check this out."  
Sam looked over her friends shoulder and watched what was happening on the tablet. The two watched as some officers were at a display board as they talked about the recent crimes that had been caused by the Foot clan. They mentioned that the Foot had been stealing records on famous scientists and had also been breaking into their houses, but they weren't sure exactly what the point of these crimes were. As the officers talked, Mikey noticed something on the evidence board behind the officers.

"Hey, does that white board mention something about the Sachs estate?"  
Sam paused the screen and then zoomed in on the section that Mikey had been talking about.  
"Yeah, it's talking about scientists, doctors, etc. that worked on location at the estate. Sachs is the guy who worked under Shredder right? The one who attacked you guys a few months back?"  
"Yeah that's him, still can't believe the Foot helped him escape before the police could get to him."  
"Well according to the notes on the board, he's back in action and he's been helping Shredder track down and locate where all his past employees have been hiding. Looks like he's not done with them. They're all in hiding after what he forced them into in the past, and it seems that he's trying to have the past repeat itself."  
"I wonder what he wants them for this time."  
"Well, it looks like he's targeting this one guy in specific." Sam moved the screen over a bit and zoomed in on a profile that had a huge star next to it. "Professor Jordon Perry. He worked at TCRI until he was recruited by Sachs to work at his estate, which at the time was seen as a huge honor. It says he was one of the top scientists and almost recreated his own mutagen that, based on what I read from Donnie's files that I sort of stole from you guys, would have closely matched the mutagen that was used to mutate you guys, but just as they were about to start testing it is when Sachs reunited with April and instantly he went after you guys instead."  
"Do you think that's he going after this dude so that he can get that old mutagen back?"  
"I have a strong feeling that that's what Shredder wants. Oh, look at this! This part of the board shows a few different places that Perry has been moved around to hide at."  
"Why is that place circled though? Does it says what's so special about it?"  
"…I wonder if that's where they're going to attack next…"  
"Does that meannnnnnn?"  
She looked over and smiled at him. "It means we're going to go and check it out."  
She put her fist out in front of her. "Cowabunga."  
He bumped his fist against hers. "Booyakasha."  
The two packed up all the devices, Sam put her face mask on, and the two began running along the roof tops.

Mikey began to laugh as he noticed the cute teddy bear mouth on his friends surgical mask.  
"A bear, really? You couldn't use something more tough and scary?"  
"Hey! When they see this, they won't be prepared for me to kick their butts!...Plus its cute…"  
"What happened to being a tomboy?"  
"I'm still a girl you dork, and regardless of gender I'm still allowed to like cute things. Being a tomboy means that I'm just not as feminine and girly as most women, not that I have to be a stereotypical man."  
"Heh, it's so easy to set you off. Like you make it incredibly easy."  
"Yeah, yeah. Keep attacking my style and I'll start insulting your man shorts again."  
"Oh no not the shorts!" he shouted sarcastically.

After about twenty minutes or so, the two reached their destination. Perry was currently staying in a hotel room, and Sam and Mikey were hiding out in the parking garage below said hotel.

"Okay, I know the board said Perry was staying here…but why are we so far down below?" Mikey asked.  
Sam was getting her weapons ready. "As we were looking at the evidence board, I overheard the officers saying that Perry was going to be moved to another hotel again tonight. If the professor is in hiding then he would be moved somewhere down here where nobody would see him. I think there's a good chance the Foot soldiers are going to try and capture the professor down here. And right on time, there he is."

The two watched as a couple of officers got off an elevator with Perry right by their side. As they walked over to a cop car that was parked nearby, about 10 Foot soldiers appeared, 5 being actual Foot and the other 5 being Huns men. They were so fast that it literally seemed like they had all appeared out of thin air.  
"Come on, let's go this way."  
Mikey motioned for Sam to follow him. As the soldiers all circled the officers and the professor, the two ninjas carefully and quietly traveled around the garage without being seen. Within seconds the soldiers knocked the officers unconscious. Just as they were about to grab a hold of the professor, they heard multiple swishing sounds. Before they could do anything, multiple shuriken knifes were being thrown at them. The trained Foot soldiers easily dodged them and fell back so that they could figure out what was going on. The remaining soldiers however just started shooting in the direction that the shuriken had been thrown from. Just after Sam had thrown the shuriken, she and Mikey had begun charging the standing soldiers. Sam aimed at knocking the weapons out of their hands as Mikey aimed using his nunchucks to knock out the soldiers.  
"Yeah bruh, like shadows in the night!"  
"Yeah, but these shadows aren't done yet. We need to guard the professor as we take out those five."  
"Can you get those elevators open?" Mikey asked as he pointed towards the wall behind the soldiers.  
"I still have a ways to go, but I think my aim is decent enough that I could get them open. You take three and I take two?"  
"What about the professor?"  
"Oh he passed out already, unless Shredder has more guys around, then he's not going anywhere."  
"Alright, game on!"

The two charged towards the remaining Foot soldiers. Sam threw two kunai knifes and both landed on the buttons to the hotel elevators, and immediately both sets of doors opened. Due to how fast he had been running, Mikey's charged attack made backing the soldiers into the elevator quite easy. Since Sam was obviously much shorter and thinner than her mutated friend, she used her speed to help her leap over the soldiers, who then chased and followed her into the elevator. The two did so assuming that they would easily be able to take out this girl, but to their surprise she kept up with them the entire time they were in the small room. The two swung their swords, but every time they swung, Sam quickly dodged. Using the techniques Mikey taught her about maintaining balance and stamina, Sam was able to move swiftly while dodging attacks from the two soldiers, waiting for the right moment to attack. Finally, one of the soldiers had lost his balance for a split second, and that fast Sam had rolled over his body, and when doing so she swung one of her tonfa under his stomach where it connected with her other hand. Using both hands, she stood up and pulled back on the tonfa, pulling the man into an upright position. She successfully used him as a shield to block a solid kick from the other soldier. As the shield soldier collapsed to the floor in pain, the doors opened. Sam sprinted out of the elevator and ran to the staircase. As she ran up, she pulled a small walkie talkie out of the side of her bag.

"Genos to Saitama, where are you?" The two had decided days previous that they needed a quick way to communicate when in battle, so Sam had bought two small round walkies that the two could easily carry around with them.  
"Saitama has taken out the enemy and is heading back down in the elevator, where are you Genos?"  
"Ironically heading in the opposite direction. I still have one guy left."  
"Alright, heading back in your direction!"

Sam reached the top of the staircase and ran to the center of the roof of the building. Not long after, the soldier had caught up to her and was charging at her. The two continued their fight on the top of the building. They kept up with each other very well, making it hard for either to find a weak moment from the other, so all they could do was attack, dodge, and block, with no real damage being done. Sam was the first to lose her balance for a split second, and the soldier knocked one of her tonfa out of her hand. It flew far enough back behind Sam that it would be impossible to turn back now and reach for it. Instead, she grasped onto the remaining tonfa like it was a baseball bat and swung at the soldiers head in his open moment. Her weapon connected with the side of his face and he stumbled back some. Sam leaped backwards, creating more space between the two. She then got out a few more shuriken and threw them towards the soldier. He dodged all of them with ease, but wasn't able to move away in time. Sam threw her knifes so fast as she charged towards the man that he could dodge, but he couldn't move away from where he was standing. Sam took advantage of this and instead of throwing her final shuriken, which the man was expecting, she shoved a kunai knife into his shoulder as she pushed him back. She pushed him back far enough that his shoulder was now pinned up against the wall. As the man was pinned, Sam brought her foot up and connected it first with the man's stomach, and then his face, knocking him unconscious.

"Wow, now that was truly incredible" Mikey said as he slowly clapped.  
"How long have you been up there?"  
"I got up here a little bit before that got knocked away from you" he said as he pointed back towards the fallen tonfa.  
"…I meant to do that by the way" Sam said as she walked back to pick up her weapon.  
"Oh sure, and Saitama isn't actually bald, he's just wearing a clear cap."  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever" She said playfully. "But I thought for a first time out I wasn't that bad."  
Mikey smiled at his friend as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Powerful you have become, more training I sense for you."  
Sam rolled her eyes. "And what happened to your guys?" she asked as she gave him a quizzical look.  
"PATIENCE YOU MUST HAVE YOUNG PADAWAN!" he said as he walked over and picked up the injured soldier.  
"Oh god what did you do?"  
"Well" he started as the two began walking down the stairs of the building, "let's just say that after you contacted me, one of the soldiers decided to get back up and fight some more, and he accidentally hit a button that stalls the elevator. So now the three soldiers are kind of bloody and bruised…and someone is going to awkwardly come across them once the elevator begins working again. Hehe."  
"Looks like we should get ready for a quick getaway soon."

Once they reached the lowest level, the two tied up all the remaining soldiers.  
"Sam, what do we do with the professor?"  
"Hmmm, I guess it would be best to at leave him back at his room. Let's do that and get out of here."

The two secretly dropped the professor off outside his hotel room, and made their way back up to the top of the building. They were too high up for Sam's liking. She had done a great job of mastering how to use her new board, but she wasn't anywhere near as skilled as Mikey was, so he let her jump onto his back until they reached a lower level. Once she was secured tightly, Mikey hopped onto his board and glided down to a nearby building that was much lower than the one they were on. Once they were both back on their feet, they ran along the roof tops of the nearby buildings until they found a manhole cover in one of the alleys. They climbed down and then hid out in the sewers.

Once they were hidden below the surface, Sam got her phone and tablet out again to see if the police had been notified about anything. From what it seemed, they knew nothing about what had gone down that night. Just to be safe, she hacked into the hotels security camera footage to delete any evidence of their presence. Sam looked up at Mikey and put her fist out for a fist bump, signaling to her friend that all footage had been wiped and that there was no visual evidence of them being there that night.

Mikey returned the gesture and helped his friend pack up.  
"Dang, you progress quickly Sam. That was incredible what you did back there. You're now able to hold your own against two soldiers, something you struggled with only about a week ago."  
"Well hey, that's what happens when you have a great teacher" she said as she gently nudged his shoulder.  
Mikey rubbed the back of his head feeling a bit bashful from her comment. "You really think so?"  
"Are you kidding?! You're the one that helped me with speed training, maintaining balance and stamina, everything that went through my head as I fought those two was advice and techniques you taught me this past week. You're literally the reason I was able to win that fight! It's like, you're L and I'm Near!"  
"So, I'm a dead guy?"  
"Ugh, noooo!" she said, playfully rolling her eyes.  
"Haha I know, I know, even though I wasn't the one fighting, because of my training I still won the battle through my student."  
"Thank you!"  
"Don't worry I got you. So, what should our code names be next time?"  
"How about No Pockets and Man Shorts?"  
"Pfft! Okay, sounds great" Mikey said as he burst out laughing.

The two continued to walk throughout the sewers. As Mikey went to turn one way, Sam turned the other way.  
"Oh, you heading home?" he asked.  
"Aren't you coming with me?"  
He tilted his head to the side. "Why aren't we heading back to my place?"  
"Because then your brothers would ask where we went. If we both stay at my place, then they'll assume we were there the whole time."  
Mikey nodded his head in approval. "Having a genius as a best friend definitely comes in handy."  
"You're welcome" she said as she mockingly bowed in front of him.  
He playfully shoved her, but accidentally did so with a little more force than he intended. As he laughed hysterically, Mikey pulled out his board and took off towards Sam's house, knowing that she would easily get her revenge if she caught up to him.  
Sam followed him on her board, and without realizing it, the two had spent about an hour just chasing each other around the sewers.

Their mission had been a success, so now they decided to kick back and just have some fun for the rest of the night.

 ***Saturday the 24th/ early morning around 4a.m.***

Leo and his father were just ending their late night/early morning meditation session. They both had had some trouble when trying to fall asleep during the night, so they decided that now might be a good time to meditate since it was so peaceful and quiet. Usually by the end of late night meditation sessions, the two would be ready for bed, and once again it had worked.

The two had been meditating in Splinter's room underneath the central piece of the living room of the lair. They both wanted to go get a quick drink of water before they officially went to bed that night, but as they walked up the small stairs to exit the small space, they saw something that surprised them both. As they turned around to head towards the kitchen area, there was Sam with multiple bags of groceries. She was stocking their fridge and cabinets with multiple different foods. 90% of the time it was Mikey who did all the cooking, so no one had really realized that there were now new foods in the kitchen, until now that was. Sam was carefully putting the food away so that she wouldn't wake anyone, that and she didn't want anyone knowing that she had been doing this ever since she had been allowed to visit the lair. She had done a good job at moving gracefully as she quietly put the food away, until her spectators surprised the heck out of her.

"Is this all for a late night snack, young one?" Splinter asked.  
Sam quickly spun around and threw the last plastic bag of food over her shoulder, attempting to hide it, only to have burst open. She smiled as she faced them, pretending to ignore that she had basically just chucked a few containers of flavorful spices and things of that such behind her.  
"Heyyyyyy, you guys. You're awake. Why?"  
Leo had to look away in order to keep himself from laughing at the epic fail he just witnessed.  
Splinter sincerely smiled back at the girl. "We've been known to meditate when we have trouble sleeping. You're awake. Why?"  
Sam's eyebrows went up. "I left something here."  
The two responded with quizzical expressions.  
"You left something?" asked Leo.  
"Yup."  
"And that is?"  
"My comic book."  
Splinter sat down at the table in the kitchen, he just had to continue listening in on where this silly conversation was going.  
Leo continued to question the girl. "You think you left your comic book in the kitchen cabinets?"  
"Yeah, maybe when I went to get a snack."  
"From the snacks that you brought that is."  
She looked at him inscrutably, making it hard to tell what she was thinking.  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
"You mean you didn't put all that extra food in our cabinets and fridge, the food that none of us can go up to the surface and buy ourselves?"  
"No."  
"Then where did it come from?"  
"…it was already there."  
Splinter had to fight hard not to laugh at this nonsense.  
"And what about the containers behind you?" Leo asked.  
"They were like that when I got here."  
"Ah, right. I must have missed them, you know, the entire time I've been in the lair, all day."  
"Well, maybe someone snuck in here when you were meditating" she said as she turned to start picking up the containers.  
"Oh someone entered the lair alright" he said amusingly.  
Sam froze and turned to glare at him, but Leo could tell that she did so in a chipper manner.

Sam stood up and laid the containers on the counter and began to walk away towards Mikey's room.  
"Whelp this was fun but I'm gonna go join my friend we were watching a movie anyway it was one of the Avengers films you should totally check it out its part of a great series mkay bye" she said within one breath.

Once she had exited the room and the two heard a door shut, they tried to stay quiet as they let out their laughter.  
"I can see why she has become such good friends with Michelangelo, she acts just like him" Splinter chuckled.  
"I knew it had to be her, since everything Mikey makes has extra toppings or flavors that we never tasted until she showed up, yet she still tried to play it off like she didn't know anything. It's literally like talking to a female Mikey" Leo replied.  
"How have things been with our new guest around?" the rat asked his oldest son.  
Leo paused for a few seconds. "Not bad, but not good either."  
Splinter sent him a disheartened look. "How so my son?"  
"*sigh* I think we're all still a little on edge with her around. Obviously Mikey trusts her, but she still seems suspicious to the rest of us, especially Raph. He's still set on the idea that she's secretly plotting against us and that eventually she's going to lead the Foot to our hideout."  
Splinter nodded. "I understand why you all feel that way, I felt that way when Donatello grew worried about what she had stolen from him. But I still sense an overall peaceful aura from her."  
"Overall, sensei?"  
"I feel that she has some skeletons hiding in her closet, but besides that, she seems to be a sweet girl who is just looking for something unique to change her life. It seems that Michelangelo was the answer to her prayer."  
Leo smiled lightly.  
"Yeah, it seems so. I just hope that she stays true to this peaceful aura. Hopefully Mikey ends up being the one to prove us wrong, and not Raph who ends up being the one to claim that he was right."

 ***Later that day/Saturday afternoon***

The four brothers had made their way into the dojo, kneeling in a line in front of their sensei. They listened to Splinter discuss what they were going to practice that day. He had all of their attentions, except for Raph who was easily distracted by someone who wasn't even in the dojo. Sam was sitting crisscross in one of the four circular openings that lead into the dojo. She was sitting in the top left opening while she had her headphones on and listened to some music as she worked away, but only Mikey knew what she was working on since it was related to their secret outings. Even though she was higher up, Raph could only focus on the music he heard coming from her headphones. The music wasn't blaring throughout the room or anything, but because Raph still loathed having the girl around, every little thing she did ticked him off. Without realizing that he was completely ignoring and disrespecting his father, Raph stood up and threw a kunai knife so that so that it hit the edge of the opening. He knew it would miss her face, but that it would also travel so fast that it would catch her attention. He knew his plan worked when he saw her lean her head over the edge and call out "you rang?"

"RAPHAEL!" Splinter yelled to his son, only for the teen to continue ignoring and disrespecting him.  
"Turn your shitty music down! How am I supposed to concentrate when I can hear it from all the way down here?" he shouted as he glared up at her.  
"Shitty? I wasn't listening to your mixtape" she said with a wry smile. She stood up and walked over to a pole along the edge of the opening and slid down to where everyone else was standing.  
"Heh, it's like you want me to kick your ass again."  
"With you gardening tools? Or your chubby arms?"  
"With these guns" Raph said as he clenched his fists, resulting in his muscles flexing and his veins popping all the way from his wrists to his shoulders.  
"You know" Sam said as she crossed her arms and responded with a mocking smile, "they say that guys with huge egos, are really small in other places."  
"I'm gonna kick your-"  
"ENOUGH" Splinter shouted. Both heads turned toward him as their faces went a bit red.

"Pffftt!" Mikey and Donnie had to cover their mouths to prevent themselves from laughing.  
Leo closed his eyes tight, trying not to laugh and to act mature throughout this whole situation.  
Splinter just sighed in frustration.  
"I see there is still some tension between you two?" he asked.  
"No there's not-"  
"YEAH!" Sam excitedly cut the hot headed turtle off, purposefully messing with his head even more.  
Splinter closed his eyes, wondering how he could try to settle things. After a few seconds, he came up with a solution.  
"Alright" he said with a wicked smile, "how about a little competition between you two?"  
Raph gave his father a confused look. "Why the heck would we do that?"  
"Because the loser will be sent to the hashi" he said wickedly.  
"Oooooh" the other brothers replied.  
"The what?" Sam asked.  
"The hashi" Raph replied, with a huge wicked grin spreading across his face. "That would be the perfect way to teach you not to mess with me and to keep your bratty mouth shut."  
"Um hey, hi, you're not the only one with skills. Depending on the type of challenge, there's still a chance I can kick your butt."  
"Pft, doubt it."  
Sam turned towards Mikey. "Soooo, I still don't know what the hashi is."  
"Welllll, it's a room where you basically push your body to limits that are extremely uncomfortable and it makes you feel like you're being tortured. But, good luck!" he said as he apologetically shrugged his shoulders.  
Sam smiled as she rubbed her hands together. "When do we start?"

Donnie and Leo sat along the edge of the dojo where it dipped down and created a ledge. They would have just walked away and wouldn't have given this competition a second glance, but after seeing how the girl held up against Raph the other day, the two decided to get comfy and watch the battle that was about to unfold. Mikey walked over and sat next to his brothers, hoping that his best friend would be able to hold her own in whatever the challenge was.

"Alright Samantha, what are your interests and hobbies?" Splinter asked the girl.  
"Soccer and dance" she said beaming with pride.  
"How often do you train for each?"  
"Combined, 8 hours a week. That's not including practice at home, actual games and performances, regular work out sessions, gym class, or other random physical activities."  
The old rat nodded his head. "Alright, you two are going to race each other."  
Both competitors gave him a disturbed look. "That's it?" they asked in unison.  
"Heh, this will be a race to see who has the most physical strength and stamina. You must complete: 100 crunches, pull-ups, push-ups, and then laps from one wall to the other."  
"QUESTION!" Sam shouted as she waved her hand in the air.  
"Yes?" Splinter replied with a blank expression.  
"When you say 100 laps, does that mean running from left to right is one lap, or is running from left to right left is one lap?"  
"Hmmm, let's go with the latter."  
Sam nodded. "Alright, let's do this."

 ***Some time later***

"There's no way she can beat him, right Donnie?" asked Leo.  
"Well, where Raph wins in muscle, Sam wins in speed. She may actually have a chance."  
"What do you mean a chance? She's right behind him!" Mikey shouted.

The two were now coming to a close on the pull-ups section of their race, and Raph was in the lead by about 10 pull-ups. Because of his large muscles, he had the advantage in moving quicker when it came to the portion of the competition that relied solely on muscle, however, Sam still wasn't that far behind. She continued to fight on, knowing that once she got to the speed section of the challenge that she would have the upper hand. Raph finished his final pull-up and dropped to the ground, starting his first push-ups as soon as he could. After a few minutes had passed, he noticed that the girl had yet to drop down next to him.  
"Hmph, you give up already toothpick?"  
"Think again cotton ball."  
Raph looked behind him as he continued his push-ups and his eyes went wide in shock. Rather than her dropping down to begin her push-ups, Sam had swung herself forward and up so that her feet were in the air and she had started her push-ups while holding the pole and facing downwards.  
"Isn't that cheating?" Raph called out.  
"I'll allow it" Splinter replied.  
Thanks to this tactic, Sam's momentum never broke, whereas Raph's had broken for a few seconds as he stopped and started up again when moving from the pole to the ground. Even so, Raph still stayed ahead by about five push-ups. After some time, Raph finished first and began his laps. He thought he had a pretty decent head start, until he felt a quick breeze go past him.  
" _She's running already?!"_ he thought to himself. He was even more shocked when he looked up and saw that she was quickly closing in on him.

Donnie had an electric score board, and every time the two completed whatever their task was correctly, he upped the number by one. Each time the two touched the other wall, their number went up by one, and Sam was very close to Raph. He was able to stay in the lead with a well maintained speed for the most past, but about halfway through his laps, he was only about a few steps ahead of Sam. At lap 55, the two were neck and neck with each other. Raph couldn't believe how fast this girl was, and not only that, but the fact that she didn't seem that tired out. Obviously both were sweating like crazy and both were also starting to slow down bit by bit, but overall they both still had a lot of power within them. For the rest of the race the two were always right next to each other.

"This is incredible" Leo stated with wide eyes.  
"This is nothing to her" Mikey replied, "When it comes to speed and strength, Sam trains like this weekly, I mean she needs to if she plans on going pro."  
Leo nodded. "Still, this is the second time that she has proven that can keep up with Raph, it's just hard comprehending that an everyday human can do that."  
"Not to mention her technological skills," Donnie cut in. "I mean, is there anything this girl can't do?"  
"Kill bugs" Mikey said bluntly.  
His two brothers slowly turned towards him. "Are…are you being serious?" Donnie asked.  
"110%. She HATES bugs. Like whenever one comes near her she freaks out. That and she has a fear of heights."

"DUDE SHUT UP!" She shouted.  
The three turned back towards Raph and Sam who were just about to end the race.

"Wow, it's really going to be a photo finish" Donnie claimed.  
They were at lap 97…98…99…and just as they were about to end in a tie, the most random thing happened. Because of all the non-stop movement, Sam's laces became loser and loser, and since she couldn't stop to tie them back up, there was nothing she could do to save herself from tripping over her completely untied shoelaces during the last lap.

Raph would have been celebrating and rubbing it in in Sam's face that he won, and Sam would have been yelling about how this wasn't fair, but the two were too out of breath to say a single word.  
"Ahhh Samantha, you held up a good fight, but I'm afraid it's time to head…TO THE HASHI!" Splinter shouted.

Sam laid on her back and held up the one minute sign to Splinter as she tried to catch her breath, terrified of what exactly it was that she would have to do next.

*About ten minutes later*  
Leo lead Sam out from the exit by the living room and down another hallway to the right. Splinter decided to let Leo come up with a punishment for the girl because he knew he would choose something reasonable that would test the girl's limits and be some form of actual training, rather than Raph who would just pick something that would put a serious physical strain on her body. There were two rooms in front of her. The right room was a little brighter than the one on the left. She headed towards the brighter room only for Leo to put his arm out to stop her.  
"Nope, that's what will eventually be the med wing, you're heading to that room" he said as he pointed towards the darker room on the left.  
As they entered the room, Sam observed a wide variety of different objects scattered along the walls. There were swivels chairs, tricycles, ping pong paddles, a carton of eggs, literally the most random things covering each section of wall space.  
Leo walked over and set up two large concrete blocks.  
"Since I don't know what your specific strengths and weaknesses are, I'm just going to have you complete my usual punishment when I'm sent to the hashi."  
"The fearless leader has a usual punishment?" she asked mockingly.  
"We all do" he said sourly. "Alright, start by getting into a split with one ankle on each block."  
Sam did as she was told, but she only straightened one leg.  
"I said to do a split."  
"This is a split."  
"No, it's only half. Both legs need to be straight."  
"…I can only do splits when I'm alone."  
Leo rolled his eyes. "Just do it."  
"…I can't…"  
"*sigh* and why not?"  
"Because I'm not flexible enough" she admitted in defeat.  
Leo's expression softened some as he realized that the girl wasn't joking.  
"You…you're being dead serious, right?"  
"Yup" Sam replied, a bit of annoyance in her voice. "After years of sports and dance I've just never been that flexible. I can't even touch my toes."  
"No way" Leo shook his head in disbelief.  
Sam gave him an agonized look as she bent over and failed at touching her toes. No matter how far she stretched, her arms came nowhere close to her feet.  
"Well, I guess I'll have to tell Mikey to add this to your list of weaknesses then. You still have to do a split though."  
"Dude come on!" Sam pouted. "I know you hate me and all but can't you pick anything else, literally anything else?"

Leo's face went blank as he saw how much this truly bothered the girl in front of him. He still didn't really trust her, but that's also because he didn't really know her that well. This little bit of information was one of the few things he did know about her, but he knew that was also because he had been keeping his distance from her. He then remembered last week how she had tricked him and Raph into conversing with her because of how much he and his brothers had been avoiding her and that this demonstrated how much she was really trying to get on their good side and make amends with them. He then thought about what his father had told him early that morning about sensing a peaceful aura about the girl. Leo decided that maybe it was time to slowly start trusting the girl and not treating her like an outsider anymore.

"Okay, there are some tricks that aide one's ability to be more flexible. It takes time and may even hurt at first, but if need be, that will be your punishment for the hashi. Deal?" he said with a small smile.  
Sam looked at the floor and shrugged. "Deal" she said with a sigh.

For about an hour, Leo helped Sam in being able to get her legs to stay straight without it hurting too much. Once she could finally hold the position, Leo backed off and let her stay put.

"See, was that so hard?"  
"I hate my life" Sam replied dryly.  
Leo chuckled. "Well my work is done, see you in two hours" he said as he started to walk off.  
"Hey you" Sam called out as Leo paused and looked over his shoulder, "thanks for helping me and not just straight up torturing me" she said with a small smile.  
Leo gave her a small nod and continued on his way.  
As he walked, he couldn't get the images of her keeping up with Raph so quickly out of his head. Once again, her performance didn't help her in his questioning of whether she could be a Foot clan member in disguise, but he did continue to see her be playful and fair throughout the entire experience. She never physically threatened Raph, and she never tried cheating either, and then after she lost she remained calm and even admitted defeat to Raph, even though it was obvious how pissed she was at herself for losing.

Leo still wasn't exactly ready to become friends with the girl, but he did think that maybe it was time to start getting to know her a little more, but only for security reasons. If she was a Foot member, then it would be best to learn her weaknesses and things of that sort, and he needed to get to know her on a more personal level in order to do that. So yes, he would start talking to her, but only for the safety of his family. Well, that was the excuse that he continued to repeat over and over again in his head at least.


	13. Chapter 13

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #13

 ***Thursday May 29** **th** **, 9:00p.m. At the Sachs Estate***

Shredder walked into the meeting room. There was a table with swivel chairs all around it, and sitting in each one was one of Shredders students or allies. Shredder didn't show emotion, but there were a select few that he actually cared about, and all four of them were in this room at the moment.

First was Eric Sachs who had been in hiding for a little while after he was broken out of jail.

Next to him at the table was Karai, a young Asian woman who was always right by his side. She aided in training the Foot soldiers that were recruited in the U.S.

At the other side of the table was a bald Asian man who looked to be in his mid to late twenties named Tatsu. He had the same job and rank as Karai. When Shredder could not be in Japan to lead the Foot, then Tatsu took over for the main branch, and when Shredder couldn't be in New York, Karai took over as head master. Tatsu and Karai saw each other as brother and sister figures since they both basically had the same jobs, so there was never really a reason for them to fight or argue over who was the best since in certain senses they were basically the same person.

The final person in the room was a tall and buff man with a blonde ponytail named Hun. Just like how Shredder had raised and taught Sachs in Japan, Shredder had basically done the same with Hun once he first arrived in New York years ago when Hun was still a young teenager. Shredder taught him how to defend himself, and once he finished his training he went out and provided for his master in his own ways. While Sachs used brains, technology, and money to help his master in whatever he needed to accomplish, Hun used his strength and intimidating personality to round up his own gang, the Purple Dragons, to take care of more petty crimes. This way he could distract the public with his gang's crimes, and then the Foot could get away with even more devious activity. Both men did what they needed to do and used their personal strengths to work together in helping each other and in helping provide for their sensei.

Overall, all four adults saw each other as family in a way and would do their best to protect one another, and all five saw each other as their own strange unique emotionless family.

Shredder first walked over to Eric Sachs. This was the first time that he had seen his student since his arrest months ago.  
"Sensei," Sachs said as he bowed, "I can't thank you enough for sending your men to rescue me. I'll do whatever I can to show you how thankful I truly am."  
Shredder put his hand on the man's shoulder and nodded. "Welcome back my student, we will continue our work soon."  
He then walked over to Karai who also bowed toward her sensei. "We have good news sir."  
He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded to her, and then walked over to the next person, Tatsu.  
The man bowed towards Shredder. "Thank you sir for sending your men to help me and those from the main Japanese branch have successful travels from Japan to New York. We are all awaiting your orders."  
Shredder repeated his greeting. "Welcome my student, we will work together soon."  
Finally, Shredder walked over to Hun, who bowed to the Shredder as well. "Like Karai said, we have plans and news that we think will make you most happy sir."  
Shredder repeated his greeting for the final time and then walked over to the head of the table.  
"Alright, so what is this good news?" he asked. There was never any emotion displayed on his face or heard in his voice, but at the same time it was so easy to feel how tense any conversation with the man was.  
The four sitting at the table all looked at each other and smiled as Sachs stood up.  
"Please follow me Sensei, we'll explain as we walk."  
Everyone stood up and followed Sachs.  
Karai was the first to talk. "We searched for the scientist that we tricked into working for us before and we forced him to come back. Since he and the other's Hun and I forced to return have been here, they've been using his notes to create the mutagen that he had been working on before we found the turtles." She then nodded towards Hun.  
He nodded back and began to talk. "The scientist's then made huge doses. At that point, Tatsu and I rounded up our men and had them break into both the state zoo and a local pet shop, basically wherever we knew we could go to quickly snatch a bunch of different animals."  
The group then walked into a huge laboratory. All around the room were cages and containers of multiple different animals.  
Shredder nodded his head. This was the only way he really showed praise, but that was enough to make his students feel proud of themselves for their accomplishments.  
"So," Shredder began, "we are going to create a mutant army with the man-made mutagen?"  
"Exactly sir" Sachs said with a smile. He then snapped his fingers and two of the soldiers in the room dragged over a terrified Jordon Perry.  
Shredder glared at the man. "So, you thought you could try to run from the Foot Clan did you?" he said as he clenched his fists.  
"I, um, well the police made me. I mean, I didn't really have a choice-"  
"ENOUGH!" Tatsu shouted. "How dare you try to insult my master! Do you really think he would believe an excuse filled with such nonsense?!"  
"I'm…I'm sorry…" the man whimpered.  
"Can you mutate these animals?" Shredder asked the man lying on the floor.  
"I…I've created a mutagen that should be able to give them some extraordinary powers…"  
Shredder glared at the man. "If you can turn these animals into soldiers, then I will let you live. Is the mutagen ready?"  
The professor shivered in fear, as much as he hated giving such power to such a horrid person, he wasn't ready to die yet. He nodded his head at the man towering over him. He hadn't gotten a chance to test out the mutagen he had been working on, but he was extremely confident in his work, so he had a strong feeling that this first and only test run would be successful.  
Shredder nodded at Sachs, who returned the gesture.  
"ALRIGHT!" Sachs shouted, "Everyone in this room, get these animals set up. This is where the fun begins" he said with a wicked smile.

Within twenty minutes or so, all the animals were put into cages or large spaced containers that would be able to hold them once they had mutated.  
Within the different cages and containers was a brown male wolf, a female turtle and her female baby, a set of parent turtles and their two sons, a male alligator, four male frogs, two female orange foxes, a male and female gecko, a female salamander, a lioness, a female puma, a small tabby kitten whose fur was covered in something sticky that was pink and blue, a male Akita Inu dog, and finally a female arctic fox.

Professor Jordon Perry was disheartened as he prepared to inject each animal with the mutagen he had made. If he had known what all his research and hard work would lead to, then he never would have agreed to come and work for the Sachs Estate. But sadly it was too late, and as he used his hand to cover his mouth to prevent himself from letting out any sobs, the mutagen had slowly started entering the bodies of each of the animals. Within a couple of minutes each and every animal began writhing around on the ground, not being able to control their bodies. Then, they each began to grow, and grow, and grow until they were either as tall as or even taller than a normal human being.

The professor looked over at the Shredder, and what he saw made him want to run for the hills. For the first time that night, Shredder was grinning from ear to ear with the most devilish smile the professor had ever seen. It was the smile of a mad man, of a psychopath, of someone who was drunk with power.

" _Great, and this is the person who determines when I get to die. Not that it matters, I'm already living in hell."_

 **Themes for what's going on inside Sam's head:  
-AKMU: Melted  
-Jung Yong Hwa: One Fine Day (not in a romantic sense though)**

 ***Thursday May 29** **th** **, earlier that night around 8:15p.m. At the Lair***

Donnie heard a beeping go off and ran over to his collage of computer screens.  
"Guys, we have trouble!"  
Leo and Mikey walked over to where Donnie was and waited for details.  
"It looks like there's been a security breech at two places. An alarm was set at a local pet store up the street earlier, and there was another one at the zoo. If you give me a second…aha!" Donnie said as he pulled up a few videos. "These security cameras are showing that there's Foot and Purple Dragon activity at both locations."  
"Alright," Leo began, "let's gear up and see if we can stop whatever it is that they're doing. One of you go get Raph-"  
"I'm already here."  
Leo turned around to see Raph slowly walk down to where they were all standing by Donnie's computers.  
"Hey, you okay?"  
"Pshh, of course. A little cold isn't going to bother me" he said as he lightly swayed side to side. "Stop moving around so much!"  
"Um, Raph, I haven't moved since you entered the room."  
"Oh…really?"  
"Yup."  
"Shit."  
Leo gave his brother a small smile. "As much as you want to go with us, it's probably best you sit this one out tonight. You'll beat yourself up a lot more if you get caught because of something silly like a cold."  
Raph gave a loud sigh, hating that his brother was right. "Fine, I'll just chill here. Don't have too much fun kicking butt without me."  
Leo nodded towards his brother and then turned to leave. Donnie was using the devices on his left arm to figure out which pathways would lead them to their destinations the quickest. To Leo's surprise, Mikey had his phone out as well.  
"Andddd what are you doing?" he asked Mikey, tilting his head to the side.  
Mikey looked up in surprise, and then with a smile. "Just texting Sam that we're heading out and that we'll be back eventually so not to worry when she gets here and its super quiet."  
"Okay all set!" Donnie cut in.  
The two brothers then stared at Mikey, waiting for him to finish his text message.  
"Okay! I've slid into her DM's, and now I'm ready to go!"  
"Never say that again, please." Donnie pleaded.  
"Awww, why not? That's become my new phrase! It's the newest trend!"  
"Because you over use and incorrectly and awkwardly use modern phrases. So stop now before you ruin it for everyone."  
"Tch, don't hate the player hate the game!" he shouted as all three brothers ran off down the alley ways of the sewers.

While his brothers had been talking, Raph had walked over towards the four circular openings that lead into the dojo. He climbed up to the top left opening where the hammocks were and decided he would rest there. It was rare that he could lay and sway in the hammocks without there being tons of noise from his brothers, so he decided to take advantage of this opportunity. About ten to fifteen minutes later he heard someone enter the room.  
" _Huh, they're back early. They just left, what, ten minutes ago? Maybe they forget something."_

Raph leaned over a little bit and was shocked that he didn't see his brothers, but Sam walking in from the entrance along the wall at the end of the kitchen. From where she was standing, there was no way she could see Raph, so he took advantage of this and spied on her. She walked over to the bottom right entrance to the dojo and kneeled down facing the left side of the wall. Raph continued to secretly stare at her, wondering what she was thinking as she just blankly stared at the weapons wall. He watched as she took a cloth and a bottle with some type of liquid out of her back pack. He then clenched his fists together when Sam picked up the lone sai she had been questioning him about from days ago and began to dust and polish it.  
" _Are you kidding me?! I told her not to touch my stuff, and what does she do, SHE TOUCHES MY STUFF!"  
_ Raph was just about to jump down from the upper level and begin yelling at her, but he stopped when he saw her put her hand back into her bag. His jaw dropped when he saw that in Sam's hand was an exact replica of the small sai that was hanging on their wall. He wanted to feel rage and anger towards her, but more than anything he was just curious. When he found the first sai in a dumpster one night about four years ago, he constantly looked for its partner. At the time he needed a new pair of sais that would fit his growing hands, and it had really upset him that he couldn't find the match, so he always kept it along the weapons wall in case he ever found the second of the two. He did use it every so often to practice certain attacks, but once he finally found a new pair where both blades were present then he just continued to use the newer pair, but he still always kept this one. All four brothers had saved all the weapons that they had fought and trained with over the years. It was their equivalent to when kids mark how tall they've grown on the side of a wall or door frame in their house, at least that's what he had seen kids do on t.v. His thoughts were disrupted when he heard some light sobbing. He peeked back over at the girl and noticed that she had been crying. She wasn't loud or crying her eyes out, but she did have some tears running down her cheeks. Raph listened carefully as the girl began to talk to herself.

"*sigh* I looked EVERYWHERE for you. Like literally everywhere, and in some places I'm not proud of either" she shuddered, "and you've been hiding down here all this time."  
" _Yeah, and I never would have expected someone like you to be hiding the other half all these years either"_ Raph thought to himself.  
Tears continued to run down Sam's face as she softly spoke to herself.  
"Well, I finally got a chance to reunite you two. Heh, it really threw me off when I saw you down here the other day. You brought back a lot of memories that I was finally starting to hide away. Well, you know what I mean, not hide away, but…I'm able to live life again, you know? I just wish your new owner didn't have to be such an ass about it."  
Raph rolled his eyes.  
"But, even if you were a bit dusty, you still seem to have a nice bad to you, and you can still see the initials, so overall it seems he did a good job at taking care of you" she said with a smile, her tears finally starting to dry up and fade away. "In a weird way, I'm glad the Hulk found you. I never knew I would find this place, but because you were taken by he who must not be named, I finally got to figure out where you've been hiding all these years."

Raph wondered what she was talking about. Initials? He thought the C.A.P. on the handle had been a brand name. He tried to think of the girl's last name and after a few seconds he remembered her mentioning it when they first met. Allan Park, that's what the A and P must have stood for, but what did the C represent? The next thing he knew, Sam was heading into the dojo with both of the sais. He quickly laid down as flat as he could, hoping she wouldn't see him up where he was.

"Alright bro, let's see if I can remember all that you taught me."  
Sam began quickly slicing the sais across the open space in front of her. She moved so swiftly that you could hear the *shing* sounds of the blades as she moved. Again, Raph wanted to yell and scream at the girl, but he was so lost in his thoughts, just as she was lost in hers. He was lucky that she was so emotionally wrapped up in what she was doing, or else she easily would have spotted him, but because of her personal distraction, Raph was able to sit up and watch her in plain sight. As he watched her in amazement, he continued to wonder what all her comments meant. How did these sais ever end up in her possession? When did she learn how to use them? Why had she thrown one in a dumpster? What had happened four years ago? And why did she just say 'bro' to the weapons?

Sam then swung the sais around and then threw them at a diagonal position down by her sides, only to have them go flying behind her.  
Raph clapped his hand to his head. _"What the heck is she thinking? Treat them with a little more respect, jeez!"  
_ He then jumped where he was sitting a bit when he heard a loud slap sound. Sam had clapped both of her hands against her face in horror.  
"Oh crap! I thought I was acting like him and was trying to be cool, but I don't have holsters!"  
She then ran over to where the weapons had been thrown and she inspected them carefully.  
"Oh thank cheesus, they're both okay. Phew, so neither of you guys have to be mad at me since they're both still in good shape.  
" _Guys? I'm assuming I'm one of them, but who else would be upset about my sais? Does she think Mikey would get upset? Or maybe Leo since he controls whether she gets to come down here or not?"_

Both their thoughts were interrupted as they heard voices getting louder and louder as they neared the entrance over by the living room. Raph recognized his brother's voices, and before he could even wonder if Sam had heard them or not, his thoughts had been answered when he saw her run over to the weapons wall and carefully put one of the sais back and the other in her back pack. She then ran over to the fridge, opened the door, and shoved her head inside.

As the brothers walked in, Mikey instantly recognized his friend standing across the room. "Sam! Watcha doin?"  
She turned around and smiled. "Looking for food, soccer practice makes you hungry, but you guys are low on snacks."  
"Oh that's okay cause I….don't have snacks in my room, hehe" he said nervously. He then noticed that Leo wasn't paying attention since he was focused on contacting April.  
"Hey April, I have a favor to ask of you when you get a momen-"  
"HEY ANGEL CAKES! How have you been?! What are you up to?! Did you miss me?!"  
As Leo walked out in the alley ways of the sewers to try to talk to April on the phone with peace and quiet, Mikey continued to follow him and bombard April with questions and comments.  
Donnie laughed as he rolled his eyes and headed for his lab. He noticed some movement to his right in his peripheral vision, and when he looked over he smiled and waved.  
"Hey Raph, hope you're feeling better" he said with a smile, assuming that his brother had been relaxing in the hammocks while the rest of them were out.

While Donnie was smiling as he walked into his lab, Sam was standing still, frozen with fear. She heard a *thud* come from behind her and she knew that the hot headed turtle was walking towards her. She took a deep breath and slowly turned to face him. All she saw was his hands on his hips and without thinking she just began blurting out whatever came to mind.

"Okay I know you hate me and all but they both were originally mine, well sort of, but they belonged to my family so I had the right to check them out and you wouldn't answer any of my questions the other day and just I needed this okay? So hate me all you want but it's not fair that you wouldn't even let me clean them and-"  
Just as she felt tears welling up in her eyes again, she was cut off when Raph used his hand to cover her mouth. She then for the first time realized that Raph had a calm expression with some sorrow resting in his eyes. He slowly removed his hand from her face.

"So, you gonna explain what I just witnessed for the past half hour?"  
Sam just stood there. She didn't want to go into full detail about what had just happened, and just thinking about it made her come close to crying again, and realizing that Raph had seen her cry earlier made her even more upset. She hadn't even told Mikey much about her past yet, and if she needed to cry then she would rather it be in front of someone who would comfort her rather than hurt her. That's when she realized…Raph wasn't insulting her. He hadn't yelled, he hadn't gotten violent, he was actually standing there ready to listen to her.

"Why…aren't you yelling at me?"  
Raph looked over to the side as his face darkened a bit. "I'll admit, I'm a bit embarrassed."  
"By what?"  
"I've never seen a girl cry in person…"  
"Oh, I get it, you're treating me like the damsel in distress" she said in a nasty tone. This was one of the reasons she didn't want to tell any of them about her past, because she knew they would treat her differently.  
"Wait, what?" Raph asked in confusion.  
"You're going soft on me because you know I'm broken. So I'm not Sam anymore to you, I'm the broken girl who makes you feel guilty for being yourself. I knew this would happen-"  
"Stop" he said, cutting her off. "I'm not treating you like you're broken, I'm attempting…trying to be nice and understand…and stuff."  
She tilted her head at him.  
"Look" he began, "I've been treating you like shit because I thought you were just a nosy brat who couldn't keep her hands to herself and mind her own business. But obviously there's reasons as to why you're the way you are."  
"The way I am?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"You know, super over confident and cocky when it comes to brains and strength. Someone your age and size shouldn't be able to do the things that you do, but you still do it. And…I'll admit I never really let you explain why, I just insulted you every time…"  
"…you're scaring me…"  
Raph rolled his eyes. "Are you going to explain yourself or not?"  
"Um…" she said as her eyes wandered to the floor, "please don't make me tell you. It's a long story that I've been hiding away for a while now."  
Raph gave her a small smile as he put his hands on his hips.  
"How bout this, you at least tell me who's initials these are, and then I'll refrain from kicking your butt."  
She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "C.A.P. stands for Chuck Allan Park. These belonged to my younger brother years ago."  
Her eyes glistened as she remembered fighting alongside her younger brother of two years. Raph noticed this and tried to carefully ask more questions about the subject.  
"Did he take those self-defense classes with you to?"  
Sam snapped back to reality, but she continued to smile as she answered his questions.  
"Yeah, we were the babies of the family, so our older siblings signed us up for a variety of different classes. Man the two of us kicked major butt together! I mean he was a million times better than me when it came to using sais, I'll honestly admit I was always jealous that I couldn't reach his level of expertise when it came to his weapon" she said as she jokingly shook her head.  
"Do you mind telling me how he lost it? How does he fight with one sai?" Raph asked.  
Sam took a breath, paused for a moment, and decided she was ready to reveal SOME information to the turtle in front of her.  
"We were fighting some bad guys and it got kicked away by the enemy. I tried looking everywhere for it, but I could never find it. I guess you took it that fast" she said as she playfully glared at Raph.  
He returned the gesture. "Well, now you can return it to him, and maybe if Leo is nice enough, he can come show me what he's got." Raph was actually a bit excited to meet another ninja who used the same weapon as him, but his excitement faded as he saw Sam's face slowly return to its soft and sullen form.  
"Sadly that will never happen. My brother…is far away right now…"  
Raph tilted his head in confusion.  
"Okay, my entire family has been split up for a while now. That's why it's always just me and my older brother Jay. Everyone else has traveled somewhere else throughout the country. That's why I'm home alone so much."  
"Do they ever visit, or even call or something?" Raph was shocked at how much concern he revealed in his tone.  
Of course Sam caught on to this and rolled with it, not knowing when the hot headed turtle might ever talk to her this way ever again. "Well, we sort of meet up all together about once a year now. But that's usually it" she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

Raph wasn't sure how to reply. He knew he would be devastated if his brothers just disappeared and saw him only once a year. Family was all he had, so he couldn't imagine how Sam felt when her huge family was scattered and so broken apart. He wished that he had learned this earlier, but then he realized that he would have done exactly what Sam didn't want and he would have treated her as the broken girl and not as Sam Allan Park. He then began to smile again, realizing that he could still treat her as herself.

"If you want, you can take both sais home with you, or you can leave them here for safe keeping. Your call. There's no way Mikey can train you with them, but I can always give you some pointers if you'd like."  
Sam didn't realize how much her jaw dropped when she looked back up at Raph.  
"Did you just offer to help train me?"  
"Well, let's put it this way. I don't want you to get your butt kicked because you don't know how to use the weapon you're armed with. You know, since I DON'T hate you and all."  
Sam playfully squinted her eyes and glared at him. "What are you saying about my technique?"  
"To put it bluntly, you're a mess. You had some good moves, but overall your technique is sloppy."  
Sam put her hands up in defense. "As much as I would love to disagree with you, I know you're right. I haven't fought with those for a couple of years now, so I could use a few refresher courses, you know, from someone who doesn't hate me" she said as she turned toward Raph, aiming the comment directly at him.

Just then, Mikey walked back into the room, his smiling face instantly turning into one of concern as he saw Raph standing right next to Sam.  
"What's going on?"  
Sam smiled at her best friend. "You're leading me to the snacks that you don't have hidden in your room."  
"Right! Don't follow me" he winked at her.

As Mikey headed towards his room, Sam looked over at Raph.  
"I'm gonna take a rain check on that refresher course, but let's stay in touch Dauntless" she said with a smile as she walked away.

Once she was gone, Raph headed back up towards the hammocks. As he laid down and got comfy, he continued to wonder about her past. What had happened that her family was now scattered all over the country? He hoped that maybe now that he had opened up to her a bit, maybe she would slowly do the same. As Raph thought back to the conversations he had recently had with the girl, he didn't realize that he now had a small smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep.

 ***Friday May 30** **th** **around 3:00p.m.***

Once school had gotten out, Sam went straight home to gather whatever she thought she would need when hanging out with Mikey and then headed straight for the sewers. The two talked for a while about their favorite games and shows and then not long after they decided to ride around the sewers on their skate boards. As the two rode around, Sam noticed a lot of empty spaces throughout the underground passage ways.

"Hey, how come you guys don't take advantage of all these huge open spaces?" Sam asked as the two skated by another large open space about the size of two small houses.  
"Honestly, we just haven't taken the time to really look around yet. After Shredder and his guys attacked us at our old home, we instantly started looking for a new home farther away from where our old one was. We stumbled upon this place, thought that it was large enough for anything we might need, and within a few days we were all set here. We haven't really looked around anywhere else in the nearby sewer passage ways."  
"Well, maybe you and I could start looking around, if you want to. If we find any spaces we like then we can decorate them the way we want to" Sam said with a smile.  
Mikey gave her a quizzical look. "And how exactly would we decorate them? What would we use these rooms for?"  
"Go Karts" Sam stated bluntly.  
Mikey laughed. "Where the heck are we going to get go karts?"  
"You guys realize what's above this place, right? I mean you have to know what's above the surface of where your new home is."  
"…Uh, well, I know Donnie knows…and Leo knows…and everyone but me cared to find out…hehe."  
Sam stared at him with wide eyes. "Seriously? Okay follow me."  
"Where are we going?"  
"You need to see what's above where you guys live, you're going to freak out when you see what's been above you guys this entire time!"

Sam led her friend to a manhole cover that would take them straight up to the location that was right above the turtle's home. When she lifted the manhole cover, Mikey's jaw dropped.  
"We've been living under an abandoned amusement park this whole time?!"  
"Heh, told you that you'd freak out" Sam replied, her hands on her hips. "And there's a bunch of go karts right over there" she said a pointed to a further away spot.  
Mikey ran as soon as he saw his friends hand go up. He inspected each of the go karts and then gave his friend a huge smile…and then began to frown.  
"These are awesome…but where would we put them. We can't use them up here, we would easily be heard if we got them running."  
Sam replied with a cheeky grin. "Oh I know just the place. Here we'll leave the karts up here for now, I have another surprise. Follow me!" she shouted as she turned and ran back towards the manhole cover.  
Mikey shook his head and smiled, wondering what else she was hiding near HIS home.  
He followed her until they were…back by the lair?  
"Um, Sam. You know where we are right?"  
She turned around with wide eyes.  
"Heck. Yeah!"  
"….so you know that's the Hashi and the med wing behind us, right? As in we're right by the lair."  
"Yeah, but we're not heading towards the lair, we're heading here" she said as she pointed to the wall in front of her.  
"…we're going to walk through a wall?"  
"See, right now this looks like a wall, but what you guys didn't realize was that this section of the wall was hollow. Why you might ask? Because it wasn't meant to just be part of the wall, but rather," she then pushed against the wall and a bunch of bricks came crashing down, falling into an open space within the wall, "to be an opening."  
Mikey stared at the open space. How had there been an entryway right by their home that they hadn't even discovered yet? He took a step inside and slowly spun around as he observed the large open space. It seemed to be about half the size of their new lair.  
"Sam…how did you find out about this?" he said as he looked back at her with wide eyes.  
"The other day when I was sent to the Hashi, my legs felt like Jell-O afterwards and I needed the wall for support. As soon as I made my way out of the room, I quickly dived over to lean on this section of the wall, only to have it give out on me. I noticed there were some cracks in the wall, and I tried to push on it a little more. After a few minutes, this section of the wall caved in, and now boom! Here we are!" she said as she threw her arms up in excitement. "And this isn't the end either, come here!" she said as she started jogging over towards the left side of that wall. At the end of that wall was yet another opening. This lead to another room that was about the same size as the first, but Sam continued jogging on. There was once again another entry way, and this lead to the biggest room of the three.

Mikey couldn't believe his eyes. "This is what you were talking about, this is the space you want to turn into a go kart track?"  
He turned to her and saw her running her fingers across each other in excitement.  
"Ohhhh I have plans for all three of these rooms" she paused. "If...you're okay with them that is" she said with a nervous smile.  
He smiled back and slowly swung his arm out in front of him like a servant. "Do share m'lady."  
She chuckled. "The first one could be a sports room, the second could be a skate room, and then this would be for the go karts. Thoughts, suggestions?"  
Mikey shook his head. "That literally sounds amazing. We already have game rooms, t.v.'s, workout spaces, so those ideas all sound amazing for these large spaces…you purposefully wanted to skate around today just so you could show me all this, didn't you?"  
"I don't know what you're talking about" Sam replied bashfully as she turned away, trying not to make it to obvious how much she had been wanting to show Mikey what she had discovered.  
He laughed as he put his arm around her.  
"Why don't we head back to the lair and start making plans on how to decorate our new space?"  
"Sounds good to me, I just need to go to Donnie's lab and get some blue print sheets."  
Mikey paused. "Donnie allowed you to go into his lab?"  
"Yeah, he told me a little while ago that I could go in, I just have to let him know what I'm taking before I touch anything."  
"Really?"  
"Do I need to say yes in another language?" she chuckled.  
"No, just curious. Now onward to the room of things I don't understand to get some blue paper!"

Mikey would never admit it to anyone, but he was thrilled to hear that Donnie was finally giving his new friend a chance to be herself and get to know her rather than just push her away. He was proud of his older brother, and hoped that maybe he would become friends with Sam as well.

 ***Much later that same day***

Donnie was sitting at the computers right outside where his lab was.  
"Foxes, a lion, an alligator…but then also household pets like a cat and a dog? Shredder, what are you up to?"  
Donnie was reading online articles about the robbery that had just happened the night before, trying to see if there was anything that would give away whatever plan Shredder was scheming. He couldn't figure out why he would steal both vicious predators from the zoo while also stealing adorable animals from a pet store.

Just then, he saw something make a jolting movement in his lab and then heard heavy breathing. He looked over to see Sam breathing heavily, sweat running down the side of her lightly red face. Earlier Sam and Mikey were working on blue prints for who knows what, but after a while Mikey needed to move around some, so he kindly excused himself to go workout some with Raph, and by the time he had returned he discovered that Sam was fast asleep. With Donnie's permission of course, Mikey moved Sam over to the small bed Donnie had in his laboratory and left her to sleep there. She had been sleeping peacefully earlier, but now her eyes were filled with terror.

Donnie quickly got up and rushed over to the girl who seemed to be having a hard time breathing.  
"Sam?" he said, snapping his fingers in front of her face, though this did nothing to change her condition.  
He then placed both his hands on the sides of her cheeks. "Sam? You okay?"  
Finally Sam's breathing calmed down some as she stared in Donatello's eyes.  
"What happened?" she asked.  
"Seriously? You're the one who looks like they just saw a ghost."  
She shrugged. "I guess you could say that."  
He frowned at her. "Is everything alright?"  
He brought his hands back to his sides after realizing that they had still been holding her face.  
"I'm good, everything is good. I just have night terrors every so often. Heh, I thought I'd be able to hide that a little longer, but of course I have one the first time I fall asleep here."  
"What was it about?"  
Sam sat quietly for a few seconds, not sure how to answer the question.  
"Just a typical dream where I'm falling and I wake up as soon as I'm about to hit the ground" she said with a playful smile.  
Donnie accepted her answer, but he had a feeling she was lying. He'd had dreams like that before and he didn't wake up with terror in his eyes like Sam just had.  
"How long have you been having night terrors?"  
"Ummmm, since I was about eight? I want to say that's about right."  
"Do you have any idea as to what's been causing them?"  
"Sorry Dr. Phil but I never really thought much about them. Usually when life got cheerier they began to go away, but even on my best days I've still had them. Sadly they just never go away."  
Donnie could sense the pain in her voice as she spoke about her nightmares. He wished there was something he could do, but without her telling him the full truth, there was no way he could help his friend.  
" _Friend?"_ he thought, _"when did I start seeing her as a friend?"  
_ As he looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed and awkward because of the thought that just went through his head, he didn't notice that Sam was looking all over the room.  
"Where did Mikey go? He isn't back yet?"  
Donnie chuckled. "Mikey went to bed hours ago, he didn't want to wake you, so he asked if he could let you sleep here."  
"Oh, heh, sorry about that. I can leave if you want me to."  
Donnie smiled as he shook his head. "Nah, I'm actually about to head to bed myself, so you can continue to sleep her if you'd like. You definitely have to spend the night here since its too late for you to head home alone, and this bed it way more comfortable than the couch."  
Donnie was a bit shocked at seeing the huge smile that spread across the girl's face.  
"Thanks Don, I owe you one. Hey throw me that stack of post it notes."  
He stood up and reached for the pack and tossed them to her. "What are you writing down?"  
"How I'm going to pay you back."  
"You don't have to do that, it's really no big-"  
"Well the way I'm going to pay you back is not big deal either" she said as she smiled and folded the note so that it would fit into her jacket pocket.  
Donnie smiled and put a hand on her shoulder as he turned to leave the lab. "Night Sam."  
"Night Erudite" she said playfully as she turned over onto the bed.

Donnie walked back to his room around the corner from where the lab was. Maybe having this girl around wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.


	14. Chapter 14

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

 **Also, it recently dawned on me that I know who I picture when I think of each character that I write about, but I haven't really given any descriptions as to who looks how. I mainly do this because I want the reader to have the freedom to imagine how they want each character to look, since when I read stories sometimes having too much detail irks me, which I know probably makes no sense but hey that's me. I also don't add a whole lot detail as to how each character looks because…well I really suck at it. Seriously, I have a horrible time describing people's physical features in real life. So, if anyone is ever curious as to who I imagine when I'm writing about certain characters, feel free to ask and I will tell.**

 **Anyway, thank you for continuing to read my story, ENJOY!**

Chapter #14

 ***Saturday May 31** **st** **, about 2:00p.m. Channel 6 news station***

April was talking to Irma, one of the receptionists at the Channel 6 news building. The two friends were having lunch in April's office when they heard a knock on the door. To April's surprise, two young teenagers were standing in the doorway to her office, and one of them she had seen before.  
"Oh, Kris, is your game over already? We still have some time before I have to take you to your appointment" Irma said to her son.  
"Yeah, since both teams were all ready to go, we got to start early since the game before ours had been delayed. One of the teams was from out of state and they had some complications in finding the field. So here we are!"  
Behind Kris was a silent but smiling Sam, who felt a bit awkward at the moment. She knew where Irma worked, and she also knew that April was a new reporter for Channel 6, but she wasn't really prepared to meet the woman just yet, but Irma's presence helped lessen the awkwardness that Sam felt in this situation.  
"Oh Sam! It's been way to long since the last time I saw you!" Irma said as she stood up and quickly walked over to the young girl, throwing her arms around her and giving her a big hug.  
Sam laughed as she hugged the woman back. "Hey future family, long time no see."  
Irma took a step back, playfully glaring at the girl. "And where have you been all this time? Even if you're not my family yet, I still worry about you very much." Irma's expression then softened some. "Have things slowly started to go back to the way they were before, in anyway?"  
Sam looked at the woman and gave her a sincere smile. "Yes, things have gotten much better. They're still really tough, but I'm slowly crawling out of the cave I've been hiding in. Things will never be the same, but I can honestly say that they have been much better lately."  
"Umm, should I go?" April asked, feeling a bit odd just standing there as the two seemed to be having a personal moment.  
"Oh April! I'm so sorry, let me introduce you two, since you'll probably see each other again at the wedding anyway. Remember when I told you about Brenda's boyfriend, Jay, the man everyone KNOWS that she will be marrying? Well, this is his younger sister, Sam."  
Sam walked over to April and extended her hand out. "Hello ma'am, my name is Samantha Allan Park, it's nice to meet you" Sam said sincerely.  
April smiled at the girl and shook her hand. "Hello, my name is April O'neil, it's nice to meet some of the future family that Irma has told me so much about."  
Sam raised an eyebrow at Irma. "You talk about us?"  
"Just a little bit, I mean jeez Jay and Brenda spend so much time together. It's impossible for me not to talk about all of you, haha."  
Sam chuckled. "Hey Irma, what's the name of those juice box looking drinks that you buy every so often?"  
"Ummm, well it depends, since there's a lot of different brands with a lot of different flavors."  
"Can you text me a list later of stores that have a variety of these different brands and flavors?"  
"Yeah sure, no problem!"  
"Hey mom, we better go soon or I'm going to be late to my doctor's appointment" Kris chimed in.  
"That's right, Sam are you leaving with us? I'd rather you not go walking around on your own even if it is still sunny outside."  
"Actually I can stay with her" April cut in.  
Both Irma and Kris gave her an odd look.  
"Are you sure April? We do still have some time before we have to-"  
"Irma, its fine! You're always helping me out in many different ways. I can easily give the girl a ride home. That is, if Sam's okay with it" she said as she turned towards the teenager with a questioning look.  
Sam pursed her lips and nodded. "Sure, why not, how often do you get escorted by a celebrity?"  
Kris chuckled. "That's definitely a Sam response."  
"Alright, well if either of you need anything then call me! No texting if it's an emergency, I expect calls!" Irma exclaimed as she pointed at both women in front of her.  
"I hear you loud and clear Irma. Bye Kris, nice seeing you again" April said as she waved to him.  
He replied with a sincere smile and returned the wave. "You to Ms. April. Have a good day."  
Irma and Kris left, leaving Sam and April in the room together. Sam didn't want there to be any awkward tension between the two, well she actually wasn't sure if there was any. She knew that she had been a bit jealous of April when she first met her, but now knowing her relationship to the turtles made her feel guilty of these original feelings. So, did April feel any weird or awkward feelings towards her? Is that why she had offered to take her home?  
"So, Ms. April, what's the motive behind you offering to take me home?" Sam asked as she leaned up against the wall.  
April smiled at the girl as she began packing up her belongings. "Nothing serious, I just wanted to get to know the 'thief' that is now supposedly allowed back into the lair" she said as she started walking towards the door.  
"Where are we going to talk about this exactly?" Sam asked, concerned about talking about the turtles in an open location where eavesdropping ears could listen in, including Foot members in disguise.  
"Don't worry, we'll go somewhere private. I know it's dangerous to talk about them in public" she said as she gave a face that said 'Seriously? I know better than that, have some faith in me.'  
Sam followed April out of the building and into the Channel 6 news van. The two got settled in the back.  
"So, we're just going to sit here?"  
"Of course not, Vern's going to drive us. He's already met the turtles so it's safe for us to talk about them in front of him."  
"Yup, you can trust me" a voice said from the front of the van. A head then turned around and smiled at the two of them.  
Sam's eyebrows went up. "You met the turtles? How?"  
"Somehow I got wrapped up in helping them fight off Shredder, you know, hero stuff, the usual."  
Sam saw April roll her eyes, making her laugh softly. She extended a hand to Vern in the front seat.  
"My name is Samantha Allan Park, nice to meet you. I'm the newest member of the turtle's band of misfits."  
Vern shook her hand and the two went back to their seats.  
"So, what exactly did you want to talk to me about?" Sam asked.  
"Well," April began, "I just wanted to know who you were, what you want out of being their friend, that sort of thing. I don't want to seem vicious or threatening towards you in any way, I'm just…looking out for them."  
Sam smiled. "I understand, you're just looking out for them like an older sister would, I mean you are the great hogosha" she teased," and I can relate to that, the sister part that is. Well, the first time I came across the lair, it honestly was just by chance. I wasn't specifically searching for it, it just happened to be the mysterious thing that was there. I stole the flash drive from Donnie's lab because I wanted to learn more about what I had found, but within a week they hunted me down and I got my answer as to what was hiding down in the sewers. I wanted to get to know them better since, well they're incredible! Both in the sense of them scientifically being one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, but personality wise they're all so unique as well. Ironically, Mikey came to visit me the following night that I met the four brothers, and he's become my best friend ever since. I just…feel happy and comfortable with him, with all of them…oh god please don't tell ANY of them that I said that or they'll be weird about it I just know it!" Sam said as she cringed a bit.  
April laughed at the girl's reaction to her own words. "Don't worry, anything said in this van will stay in this van. But your comments answered some thoughts I've had in my head for a while."  
Sam gave the woman an inscrutable look. "What thoughts would those be?"  
"Well, let's just say that Irma has talked A LOT about her daughter and future son in law, which means I've also heard a lot about his past, which means I know a lot about what's happened to you as well."  
Sam just sat there silently with a bleak expression on her face. She wasn't sure exactly how to respond for a few reasons. Her main fear was that she may or might already have told the turtles about her harsh past, and she wasn't ready to talk to any of them about that yet. Sam was also now trying to stay calm and collected since she was now being forced into a situation where she had to talk about her past, something that she hated very much. Little to no notice beforehand to allow her to calm herself ahead of time made talking about this very difficult, and she hated showing this weakness to people. As she sat there silently, April began to talk again.  
"If you're wondering if I told the guys, then you have nothing to worry about."  
Sam's head shot up as she heard this.

April gave her a small smile. "If I may be brutally honest, the night I first met you and you told me your name, I knew it had sounded familiar. Once it finally clicked in how and why I knew you even though I had never met you before, it made some sense to me as to why you would be creeping around the sewers looking for 'adventure' as Leo put it, hehe. That's also why I hung back in advising them to look further into any background information on you. I actually convinced Leo and Donnie to drop those thoughts and convinced them that I would take care of it, and I sort of white lied and said that I was still in the process of looking up information when really I wasn't looking into your background at all. I wanted to confront you before ever telling them anything personal about you. I wanted to see if your intentions in seeing them were good or not, and if they seemed so, then I vowed that I would continue to keep your secret. If you seemed suspicious or anything then honestly yes I was planning on telling them, but I know that you've lost a lot, and based on what you just told me a minute ago, the reason you seem to like hanging out with the guys so much is because they remind you of what you lost years ago."

Sam paused to collect her thoughts. "Honestly, it sounds like you've put a lot more thought into why I feel so comfortable around all of them than I have. But you're right, each of them has qualities that are so similar to all of my siblings. You might as well label Leo as Jay junior" she said with a laugh. "But I swear on my life that I just want to be friends and hangout with all of them. Ever since…the incident, I've been alone a lot more than ever before, and within the past few years I've really grown to look for something adventurous, something that will give me a huge adrenaline rush, and Mikey alone has helped with that. I more so recently just got the other three to really start talking to me, but that's another first for me as well. Kids at school only talk to me when they need to or when no one else is around, and I've grown to not care about that, but…for whatever reason I don't want it to be that way with these guys. Even if they're just starting to or still barely even care for my company, I really do want to get to know them. Thinking back on it, what you said about wanting to hang out with them because of their similarities to my siblings makes a lot of sense."

April smiled and put a hand on the girls shoulder. "Don't worry, they're all very protective of one another, but as they get to know you bit by bit, they'll open up to you. But that means you also have to slowly open up to them as well. That doesn't mean telling them every detail of your past at one time, but slowly talking more about your siblings, things like that. Prove to them that you really do want to become their friend." April then turned her head towards the front of the van. "Hey Vern, can you drop me off at the usual place?"  
"Yup, sure thing April. Tell the guys I said hi when you see them." He then started the van and merged in with the traffic.  
Sam smiled at the woman in front of her. "Thanks for this April, it really means a lot that the great hogosha approves of me seeing her friends."  
April rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well, thank you for talking to me with seriousness and honesty. And hey, if you ever need anything," she said as she stuck her hand out and waited until Sam put her phone into her hand, "let me know okay?"  
Sam nodded her head. "And I can't thank you enough for keeping my past a secret."  
"Don't worry about it, you're not the only one that's lost someone."

Vern parked the van and let the ladies out, covering for them as they made their way into the sewers. As Sam and April exited the van, they continued to talk the entire time they walked to the lair. April shared about losing her father at such a young age and how that affected her, and for the first time ever, Sam was able to share how she felt about losing her own family members, in a comforting setting that is. This wasn't therapy, this was a real person who wanted to talk to her and get to know her, and that meant everything to her, especially since Sam hadn't had someone that she could view as a sister figure in a long while. Sam had sadly cast Irma and Brenda out some time ago, but slowly she was letting them back in bit by bit, and this conversation with April made her realize that as much as she loved being a tomboy and hanging out with guys, she truly did miss talking to other women. Sam was happy that she had the chance to talk to April like this and she hoped that it wouldn't be the last.

 ***Saturday May 31** **st** **, the lair, late at night***

Raph had been watching t.v. in his room and had headed towards the kitchen for a late night snack. As he entered the main living area, he noticed someone laying in one of the hammocks in the top left opening that lead into the dojo. He was prepared to prank whichever brother had fallen asleep there, but as he got closer he realized that it was Sam who was laying there. He knew she must be thinking about something personal and emotional again, or else she would have cracked some type of joke at him once he had entered the room. She always knew when someone had entered the room when she was training with Mikey, even when she couldn't see them. She had proved that she had incredible sensory skills, but whenever her emotions got the best of her, those skills went flying out the window. Raph climbed up to where the hammocks were and laid in one, leaving some space between where he and Sam were lying. He could tell by her glassy eyes that she must have let a few tears slide earlier, but that she was much calmer now.

"You know you can't see the stars from down here, right?" he said as he looked up at the ceiling, just like Sam had been.  
She continued to look up as she spoke. "Tch, I know. Just because I'm looking in one direction doesn't mean I'm focusing my eyes on anything. My gaze just drifts off when I'm lost in thought."  
"These thoughts have anything to do with your little brother?"  
She squinted as she looked over at Raph. "You're so interested in meeting him now, aren't you?"  
"It's not every day you meet a fellow sai master."  
"Sai master?" she asked mockingly.  
"Yes, I'm a master, a pro at what I do."  
"And I can fly around this room with my eyes closed."  
"Yeah, you can with that board of yours."  
Sam was silent for a second. "Oh hey I actually can now" she said with a laugh. "Aw crap, I just agreed to calling you a master without meaning to. I have dishonored my family."  
"Way to go slick" he teased, happy to see the girl smile again. " _Happy? Why the heck am I happy that she's smiling? I don't care about how she feels. That's right, I don't care about this chick, so then why the heck am I up here-"  
_ "So why are you up here anyway?" Sam asked, cutting off his thoughts.  
Raph's face was blank and calm, but mentally he was freaking out. He didn't want her to know that he sensed she was upset and then went to talk to her, he couldn't believe it himself that he was up here for that reason. He needed an excuse and fast.  
"I needed a spotter."  
She gave him a questioning look. "You're working out in the middle of the night?"  
"Yeah, I finally have some peace and quiet, now that you two aren't training and goofing off in the dojo" he said as he tried to maintain a serious look and sound tough as usual rather than revealing how nervous he was.  
Sam shrugged her shoulders. "Fair enough." She sat up and walked over towards the pole near the opening and slid down to the ground floor where the workout station was.  
Raph was just relieved that she bought his excuse. " _Alright, I already exercised earlier today, so I'll make this as quick as possible and I'll head back to my room. Then I won't have to talk to her anymore."  
_ As Raph headed down towards the workout station, he was shocked to see Sam adding weights to the barbell.  
"Where does your strength come from?"  
"Hella sports" she said as she placed the last weight on.  
Raph grinned. "You need to add more weight to it.  
Her eyes went wide. "The weights 450, how much more do you need?"  
"All the way up to 580."  
"…I feel like a twig…"  
Raph laughed. "I'm sure you still bench press a lot more than most people your size."  
Sam looked over at him. "No way, I'm not telling you."  
He put his hands up in defense. "I promise I won't judge."  
"…150…"  
"How much do you weigh?"  
"Dude! You NEVER ask a woman how much she weighs!"  
"You do when you're trying determine whether she's pulling her weight, literally."  
Sam glared at him. "I'm 120" she mumbled.  
Raph nodded. "Then you're actually doing better than you should be" he said as he laid down and grabbed onto the barbell and started his reps.  
Sam stood behind some, but still made sure to keep an eye on him just to be safe. "I am?"  
"Yeah, someone your weight should be lifting somewhere between 80 to 125 pounds, so you lifting 150 is pretty damn good. Guess I can't call you a twig anymore" he said with a grin.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes until Sam realized that she should take advantage of this time where Raph was calm and be honest with him.  
"Sorry for beating your high score in that racing game. If I had known it was such a big deal than I wouldn't have played it."  
Raph peeked over and noticed her gloomy expression as she stared at the t.v. over in the living room.  
"Tch, I just wish I knew how you reached a score that high. I've never gotten that close. Must be lucky, since it was your first time playing" he said bluntly.  
"Heh, obviously that was a lie. Sorry for that as well. I've played that and other racing games tons of times, so I've gotten really good at finding cheat codes and secret techniques and all kinds of things that help boost my score."

Raph could tell that Sam was slowly starting to get depressed again, so he decided to change things up. He placed the barbell in its holder and stood up.  
"So, how many pushups can you do?"  
She shrugged.  
"You don't know?"  
"I've never counted before."  
"Well, start counting now." He motioned for her to follow him as he walked into the dojo, and with a smile she did just that.  
The two faced each other as they got on the ground and began their pushups.  
"So, your brother's bench press?" Sam asked.  
"Yup."  
"How much?"  
"Ummmm, from what I can remember, Mikey was next in line at about 540, Leo wasn't far behind that at about 525, and then Donnie comes in last with 450."  
"Jeez, being thin doesn't mean shit when it comes to that guy" Sam said in amazement "I mean the other day when you guys were training, he literally flipped Mikey over his shoulder. How is he not the same size as the rest of you guys?"  
"Heh, he used to wonder the same thing and it really bothered him for a while. Then he got older and when he beat us in speed and height he didn't care so much, he can be a real ass when it comes to being the tallest though."  
"You just called someone else an ass? Is it snowing outside?" she mocked.  
He stopped and glared at her. "I'm not always an ass you know, I can be a nice guy."  
"And I'm a Victoria's secret model" she said as she miserably failed at holding in her chuckles.  
Playfully, he leaned his weight onto one arm and pushed Sam over.  
Jokingly she glared at him. "Dude! What gives?"  
"Oh well, guess you have to start all over."  
"And what was that about not being an ass?"  
Just as she was getting ready, he pushed her over again.  
"That's it" she said as she swung her foot around, hoping to knock him off his balance as well. Of course, he just stayed still, knowing that her kick wouldn't harm him at all. Sam withdrew her foot and pouted at the fact that she couldn't do what he had done to her.  
"How's it feel to hit steal?" Raph said with a huge smile.  
"Soft and squishy, like flubber."  
Raph rolled his eyes as he stood up. "Well, since you failed to keep your balance while doing pushups, we'll try pullups next.

Without either of them realizing it, the two talked while going through one of Raph's normal workout routines for many hours throughout the night. Raph enjoyed working out with his other brothers, but sometimes Mikey goofed off a bit too much, and Leo usually wanted it to be dead silent. The two weren't always this way, but this had become their norms. Donnie had his own workout routines and usually completed them when others weren't around, since he still slightly detested that he couldn't keep up with his brothers strength. Knowing all this, Raph enjoyed having someone he could talk to while going through his normal routines. Of course he would never admit to himself or to anyone that he actually enjoyed the girls company, he would take it to his grave that she was the one who came to him and wouldn't leave him alone. Sam knew this, but she didn't mind. She knew that everyone needed a first step when getting to know someone, and even though she had a feeling Raph would always deny it, she knew that this was his, and early the next morning around 6a.m. when Mikey wondered where Sam had been since she wasn't in his room and he found her and Raph asleep on the couch together, as he moved Sam to the bed in his room he also secretly knew this about his older brother as well.

 ***Sunday June 1** **st** **, early morning in the lair***

"Okay, so when you crack the egg on the side of the pan, you have to do it hard, but gently at the same time" Sam explained.  
Leo looked confused as hell. "So, which is it?"  
"Ummm, right in between. As best as you can get to that" Sam said as she shrugged her shoulders.  
"You're not good at explaining things, are you?"  
"Not really, I know what I do and try my best to put that into words. Sorry."  
Leo did his best to crack the egg 'hard but gently' and luckily he got a solid crack on the egg. He went to open it and put it in the pan, but Sam lightly grabbed his arm.  
"Drop it in here."  
"Why would I put it in a small dish?"  
"In case there's any shell. Trust me you don't want to eat that."  
Leo nodded. "Makes sense, good call."

Sam had recently learned that it was Mikey and Donnie who did a lot of the cooking in the family, and that Raph and Leo knew little to nothing. So, she offered to teach him some basics. She wasn't a master chef or anything, but her older brother Brian had taught her everything she really knew about cooking, so she tried her best to pass these basic teachings on to Leo.

"This is just fun to watch" Mikey said as he sat at the table in the eatery.  
"Hey! Hushity-hush! Don't distract my student!" Sam exclaimed.  
Leo turned towards her and gave a blank expression. "I'm sorry what?"  
"You can call me sensei" she said with a beaming smile.  
"Not. A chance. Ever."  
"Master?"  
"Nope."  
"Teacher?"  
"Never."  
"How about-"  
"You should just stop now" Leo said with a sarcastic smile, resulting in chuckles from Mikey in the background.  
"Whatever you say oh fearless leader" she said, throwing the sarcasm and mockery right back at him.  
As Sam turned back towards the stove, Leo shot his younger brother a small grin. The two boys could tell that Raph must have allowed some time to talk to the girl, since Raph was the only one that called Leo this literally all the time. Leo's suspicions seemed to prove true when later on Raph entered the room and walked over to where the dojo was, since this was one of the times he usually trained on his own. Leo heard the sound of some paper crinkling and when Raph had left the room, he noticed Sam staring at what it was that he had dropped, a magazine that he had been reading.

Throughout the rest of the day, Leo knew that something was up since Raph kept looking around for the magazine, and later found it in a place that they both knew wasn't where he had left it, but of course Raph wouldn't question it because that would be him asking others for help, and he tried to refrain from that as much as possible.  
 _"Huh, I wonder what that kids up to"_ Leo thought, as he then wondered why he cared in the first place, since he was supposed to be like his younger two brothers and not care about the girl or what she did. At least, that's what the three continued to tell themselves.

 ***Monday June 2** **nd** **, 4:00p.m.***

Donnie was currently working on his and the brothers truck when Mikey walked over asking for his assistance.  
Donnie hopped out from the back opening of the truck and walked over to his brother. "Hey Mikey, what's up?"  
"Follow me!" he said, a skip in his step.  
"*sigh* why now?"  
Mikey turned back to face him with an irked look. "Dude, it's nothing major, but I think you'll like it. Come onnnnnnnaaa!"  
Donnie rolled his eyes and followed his brother. They walked out the exit way that the truck would use to get onto the streets. When they reached the exit way that lead into the city, Mikey pulled up the door and there was Sam, using all her strength to push an extremely old and worn out motorcycle into the sewer walkway.  
Donnie was shocked, and very confused. "Why? And how?"  
Sam stopped and leaned on the wall, catching her breath. "Your annoying older brother keeps complaining that he doesn't have his own wheels, and he'll never admit that he actually talked to me first and not the other way around. He thinks he hates me, but he's wrong" she said as she pointed to him. "So, after I fix this up, we'll see how much he still hates me then."  
"Sam, where did you get this? Did you pay money for this?" Donnie said with a mix of amusement that she would go so far to help Raph, but also in frustration that she would spend so much money on helping them.  
She shook her head. "Naw, found it in a junkyard. And it only cost the truck that got it here about 8 bucks since the drive wasn't that far away. I might have to spend some money on certain materials like paint, but if I got help finding spare parts and things like that, it'll be a lot cheaper" she said with a wide all teeth showing smile.  
"Heyyyy, how come you're not asking me to help?" Mikey pouted.  
"Do you know how to get a motorcycle up and running?"  
"…no…" he said in defeat.  
"Don't worry fam, if your brother helps me out, then you can assist us. I don't have the strength to do everything on my own" she said as she put a hand on his shoulder.  
"Hmmm, I don't know," Donnie cut in, "I mean I already have a lot to work on right now with the truck and the med wing, things that could really benefit us in the long run."  
"I can help with those."  
"Really? How can you help?"  
"I have some basic skills when it comes to construction and rewiring, you know, things along those lines. Plus I can help you get materials. My brother somehow has friends in all types of different career fields. Oh! And I have these!" she said as she tossed him a bag.  
Donnie curiously inspected the bag. It seemed to be a cooling bag that could keep materials that needed to be refrigerated cold. He unzipped the top of the bag and inside were tons of different Japanese juice boxes of all different flavors.  
His eyes went wide as he rummaged through the bag, observing the countless flavors.  
"How did you know I drink these?" he asked in amazement.  
"Not gonna lie, it was a huge hunch. I had a strong feeling you would like these. Guess I was right. Told you owing you wouldn't be a big deal" she said with a smile. "So, whaddya say?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and nudging him with her elbow.  
"Alright, it's a deal" he said as he playfully pushed her away from elbowing him. "Come on Mikey, we'll find ways for you to help out if you want."  
"Sweet! And don't worry I'm the best at keeping secrets!" he exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around the other twos shoulders, and they all walked off to find a spot where they could work on the motorcycle in secret.

 ***Friday June 6** **th** **, later in the evening***

Throughout the week when she wasn't teaching Leo how to cook or helping Donnie with their new projects, Sam continued to train with Mikey. The two were currently on break from another training session. Raph was working out at the moment, mainly because this is what more than half of his day consisted of, but also because he liked to monitor the girl's progress in her training. Actually, all the remaining brothers liked to see Sam progress in her training with Mikey since she was already decently skilled to begin with, but her movements had gotten much faster since the first time they had all met her, and visibly she was changing as well. Her muscle size hadn't increased dramatically, but they were a bit more toned now, and even though she was still very thin, the fact that she even had muscle was very recognizable, unlike in the past when her muscles couldn't be seen except when being used.

Raph glanced over at the two friends who were getting a drink in the kitchen when he noticed that Sam was staring off into space. He looked in the same direction she was and noticed that she was staring at the spot on the weapons wall where the sais were. Raph kept a straight face, there's no way he could smile in front of the other two, and walked over to where they were sitting. Sam was still staring off into space for a few more seconds before she realized Raph was heading over in their direction. Mikey on the other hand instantly sensed when his brother began walking over in their direction and quickly turned to face him. He saw that Raph's eyes were on Sam and he paused, nervous about what his brother was going to say to the girl.

"Wanna take em for a test run?" Raph said facing Sam.  
She turned to him, her eyebrows raising. "Hm?" she asked as her brow furrowed in curiosity as she wondered when Raph had entered the room.  
"Do you. Want to. Practice with them?" he said as he pointed towards the smaller set of sais.  
Sam turned towards Mikey. Even though her face was blank, he knew that she was asking for his approval since she didn't want to just abandon her friend.  
Mikey smiled at her. "Your brother has been distracting you for the past half hour, so go make him proud" he said as he tilted his head towards the back wall.  
Sam gave him a huge smile and darted towards the weapons wall.  
Raph looked at his brother with curiosity. "You knew about them belonging to her brother?"  
"Yeah, she told me about them belonging to him and she brought the second one every day once she discovered its partner was here, waiting for a safe moment to put it back. How did you know they belonged to her brother?" he said, squinting his eyes at his older brother.  
Raph froze before he spoke. "She got caught, but I decided to let her off easy. She seemed upset about it" he said, trying to shrug off the situation.  
"So why didn't you take advantage of that? You passed up a chance at attacking her at her weakest point? You didn't continue to verbally beat the shit out of her?" he said in a bogusly serious tone.  
"Oh I'm about to beat the shit out of someone" Raph said as he cracked his knuckles.

 ***Themes:  
BTS-Back Breaker (audio)  
BTS-Silver spoon (audio)  
G Dragon-Obsession (audio)***

"Are we doing this or not?" Sam called out from the dojo.  
The two boys looked away from each other and over at her, both interested in how these events would play out.  
Sam was standing on the right side of the dojo, lightly jumping and getting her body warmed up for the sparring that would soon prevail.  
Raph leaped down from the small ledge and walked over to the left side of dojo.  
"You ready?"  
"Eh" she shrugged. "Don't expect anything great, I'm still rusty."  
"Heh, well let's see how you hold up" he said with a grin.

And as soon as those last few words left his lips, the two were charging at each other.  
The two moved swiftly as the sais from one fighter clashed with those of their opponent. Raph waited for an open moment and swung his elbow in push the girl forward, but what he wasn't expecting was for her to jump back some when he did this and to then hook her sai with his and try to move them around together. Usually when someone did this, it was to move and then pull the sai out of their opponents hand, which normally this would have worked, but since Sam was obviously much weaker than Raph, this move backfired and it was Raph who actually knocked Sam's sai out of her own hand.

"Dang, if only she had more strength" Donnie said in excitement.  
Sam looked over at him in confusion, wondering when the heck he got here. She then noticed that Leo was sitting on the other side of Mikey who was sitting in the middle of the group of three. She wondered what was with these guys wanting to watch her whenever she was sparring with someone.  
"Hey slick, stay focused" Raph said as he tossed Sam back the second sai.  
She shrugged. "Okay" and then ran back towards him at full force. That quickly the brawl was back on and the sounds of clanging sais could be heard all throughout the lair, which was what drew the other two brothers over towards the dojo in the first place.

"How does she know how to hold them correctly?" Leo asked aloud and then turning towards Mikey.  
"I don't know what you're asking" he stated with his eyebrows raised.  
"What he's asking is how does she know where to place her fingers when using the sais? Since if you place your fingers in the wrong spot and if you hold them incorrectly then every time you pull the weapons back you can easily cut yourself. But Leo's right, she's holding them the correct way, and she's doing a pretty good job at defending herself, though she has to fight very defensively since Raph's strength outweighs hers."  
"Oh, I guess her younger brother taught her" Mikey replied.  
"Her younger brother?" questioned Leo.  
"Hey man, you'll have to ask her about that, it's not my story to tell" he said defensively as he gave his brother an innocent yet serious look.  
Leo nodded and continued to watch the fight.

The two fought on for a good while longer. There were a few times where Raph was able to knock Sam back or knock her down, but each time this happened, Sam would always swipe and curve her sai upwards in attempt to bring his leg up and have him fall on his back. The first couple of times she tried, she came close to succeeding, but by the third attempt she knew she was making herself easy to read, so she had to try out a new move.

Sam ran forward and twisted the blades so that they were facing away from her opponent and then threw her right arm up towards Raph's shoulder. He twisted his blades so that they faced away from Sam as he blocked her hand. At the same time, Sam had performed the same move but with her left arm swinging down towards Raph's waist. This was also blocked, but for a split second Sam had a chance to perform a move she had only seen once in her lifetime. While both Raph's arms were currently blocked, Sam leaned back as far as she could without falling, brought her knee up, and then aimed at kicking Raph in the chin. Raph however had performed this move thousands of times and knew that Sam's positioning was a bit off, so he easily dodged the attack. Right after, he swung his right arm out of Sam's grip and lightly hit her in the shoulder, resulting in her jumping back and calling a truce.

"Anddd I'm out!" she exclaimed as she put her hands up in defense while still holding her sais.  
"Awww, what? Come on!" she heard multiple voices calling out behind Raph.  
"Aren't those my lines?" he joked as he turned around to face his brothers.  
"Hey, you three take a solid blow from that!" she said, pointing towards Raph, "and then you can complain!" Raph chuckled. He enjoyed when people pointed out how strong he was. He then turned towards Sam.  
"Who taught you how to do that last move?"  
"No one. I saw someone do it once and I attempted to copy it. I was running out of moves so I had to come up with something."  
"Was it your younger brother?" Leo asked.  
Sam turned towards Mikey with wide eyes and a fake smile, signaling that he wasn't in trouble, but that she was still irritated depending on what exactly he had shared with his brothers.  
"All I said was that you younger brother might have taught you to fight that's it!" he exclaimed in one breathe.  
She nodded as her expression softened. She then turned towards Leo. "Yeah, it was my younger brother actually. He took some self-defense classes with me in the past and these specifically were his weapon of choice" she said as she held up the weapons in her hand. "I saw him perform that move once during training and I tried to copy it."  
"Wait, you only saw him perform that move once?" Raph asked.  
"I told you my moves were rusty!" Sam exclaimed.  
Raph rolled his eyes. "I ain't complaining, I'm asking because that was way too accurate for a first time try-out."  
"That was good? I totally missed."  
"Yeah, because you're going up against a pro. What you just did would have easily knocked out any amateur on the street."  
Sam started brushing off her shoulders, pretending to act like she had known what she was doing all along.  
"Did you guys ever practice with any other weapons?" Donnie cut in.  
"Uh, yeah a few different types. Why?"  
"You ever learn to fight with a bo?"  
"A little bit yeah."  
"Alright, my turn!" he said as he hopped off the ledge.  
"Do I get any say in this?" she asked playfully.  
He breathed in. "No" he said with a smile.  
"Eh okay, hey Mikey-"  
"Already on it!" he shouted as he ran back into the room and tossed Sam her two tonfa. She then extended them both, collapsed the handles, and then connected the two together.  
Raph smiled as he walked by Donnie. "Don't go easy on her, she's tougher than she looks."  
"That or you're just weaker than you thought" he teased.  
Raph nudged his brother. "Heh, smartass" he joked.  
As Raph took his seat next to Mikey, Donnie got his bo ready as he pushed it forward and it also extended some. He got in ready position on the right side of the dojo as Sam also prepped herself on the far side of the dojo.  
"321go!" Mikey shouted, and the two charged at each other.  
Donnie was shocked at how easily Sam was able to keep up with his movements. Every time he brought his bo up to swiftly bring it down for an attack from above, she always knew how to position her weapon so that she could block the attack. The two were neck and neck for a while until Sam got a quick second for a fake attack. She made it seem like she was going to push her bo forward for a central attack, but instead, when Donnie moved his bo forward to block the attack, she pulled her bo back and then grabbed his. Once he was in a position where for a split second he couldn't move, Sam turned some and brought her leg up and pushed Donnie back some.

Raph rolled his eyes. "What part of 'don't go easy on her' didn't he understand?" he mumbled.  
"He's not going easy on her, he's shocked that that even happened. She's obviously way more skilled with this weapon" Leo said, not realizing that there was a small smile creeping upon his lips. He found this girl intriguing. You never knew what she was hiding up her sleeve or what she was going to do next.

Donnie stood for a couple of seconds in shock at the strength that this girl now had. He knew her muscles were much more visible now compared to when they first met, but he hadn't realized just how strong she had become. Knowing this, he knew he could play a bit more on the offensive side now rather than just fighting defensively.

It took a while for Sam to realize just how fast she and Donnie had been moving. Both of their movements had been so swift and fluid that she hadn't realized just how much the fight had picked up speed.  
Unfortunately for her, Sam ended up moving a split second to short at one point and Donnie took full advantage of this as he hit his bo against hers and then swiftly moved the two in a curved downwards position where Sam's bo was pushed outwards, leaving the entire front of her body wide open for an attack. As Donnie moved forward and swung his bo with him aiming for the center of Sam's body, he could see in her eyes that she knew she had messed up, and because of this she knew exactly which way to move when dodging the attack.  
As she dodged in the same direction that his bo was moving in, she then just as quickly spun around and tried to attack with her bo as it was held in a long upwards position, but already Donnie had moved back to a position where he could block the attack. With quick spontaneous thinking, she then tried to swing the bottom half of the bo back up in an attempt to knock the opposing weapon from Donnie's hand, but he sensed this attack coming and quickly moved back some with his bo in front of him. He then twisted his bo sideways and pushed it forwards when Sam's was in the middle as he then spun around and swung his leg up. Sam was able to duck in time, knowing that with the momentum of his swing, he wouldn't be able to stop in time and bring his leg down to hit her.

The two continued their back and forth fight of attacking and dodging until Leo had grown impatient.  
"Times up!" Leo called out.  
Donnie stopped and faced his eldest brother. "Exsqueeze me?"  
"This fight been going on longer than Raph's."  
"Oh, really?" Donnie asked.  
"I dunno, but you've stopped now" he said as he shrugged his shoulders.  
"HA" Sam quickly shut her mouth and looked away, trying to hide how hilarious she thought that situation played out as Donnie turned back and playfully glared at her.  
Mikey couldn't help himself and burst out laughing. Even Raph was chuckling a bit. "Dang Leo, that was messed up, I totally approve though."  
Donnie rolled his eyes as he turned back towards Sam. "You've studied the use of that weapon wayyyyy more than the previous one" he said with a smile.  
Sam rubbed the back of her head. "Hehe, yeah. This almost became my weapon of choice, so I practiced with this one a lot more than the others. Yes those others include katanas" she said as she gave Leo a playful yet serious look. He paused for a moment, a bit dazed by the fact that she had answered a question he hadn't even opened his mouth to ask yet. As the two opponents continued talking, Leo walked over to the weapons wall to get some katanas for Sam.  
"So" Donnie began, "what made you turn towards your weapon versus mine?"  
"Well for one, tonfa allow wider and more flexible movements, which I personally liked better. Second, your weapon is good for people whose strength is more so in their legs than their arms, not saying that bo users have no arm strength, but from what I've seen it's a good weapon when it comes to being quick on your feet. Overall I was good at this, but apparently various tests showed that there was a slight difference in how I applied strength using my legs and feet versus my hands and arms, so I was also recommended my weapon."  
Donnie nodded. "Makes sense, I get this feeling you were also told that it would have benefited you more if you were taller because then it might have been a bit easier for you to provide stronger blows from your legs rather than your arms" he said with a smirk.  
She squinted her eyes at him. "So you are smart enough to read minds."  
"Heads up" Leo called as he tossed a sword towards Sam. She caught it and gave him a doubtful look. "Are you expecting me to fight with this? Dude, how strong do you think I am?" she asked as she tossed it back to him. At the same time he had tossed her another sword, and she replied the same way.  
This went on for a few seconds until finally they found a perfect match. Sam looked over the katana and was glad that there was a set that had some strength behind it, but wasn't too heavy for her to swing and fight with.  
"Alright, this will do." Leo tossed her the matching katana and the two went to their sides of the dojo. Donnie took a seat on the other side of Mikey as the three boys got ready for the next fight.  
"Annnnddd 321go!" Mikey called out. For the most part he had actually been watching quietly, but that was because he had been taking mental notes on both how his best friend had been fighting and things she needed to work on another day during training, and also on how his brothers acted and reacted towards her fighting and to her personally. Overall, Mikey was satisfied with everything that he had observed so far that evening.

Leo and Sam rushed towards each other, once again creating the loud crashes of their katanas colliding with each other and echoing throughout the lair. Instantly Leo could tell that Sam was back to the way she was when she had been fighting against Raph. She knew some basics like how to hold and slice with the katanas and how to quickly dodge attacks, but her movements definitely weren't as fast as they were when she had been fighting Donnie. Knowing this, Leo decided to try something different. He anticipated that she would block his attack when bringing both his blades forward, and she did just as he predicted and blocked in the exact stance that he foresaw as well. Instead of standing in place when he attacked, he began walking and pushing forward. Sam hadn't anticipated this and not knowing what to do, she continued to push forward as well. Leo continued to quickly walk forward and push Sam with him, waiting to see what she would do next.  
"You gonna fight back, or are you dead already?" he mocked.  
Sam struggled as she continued to push forward until she saw a crack in the floor that looked to be about a decent size. Without time to think, she shoved one of her katanas into the crack and quickly swung around, so as Leo went forward, she was now behind him. She would have had the upper hand if she could have pulled the blade from the crack, but she had used too much force to get the katana in, and now she couldn't pull it back out.  
Sam backed up some in defeat. "Well guess I'm dead" she said with a mix of humor and frustration in her voice, upset that the fight was already over because of her blunder.  
"Not yet" Leo said as he pulled the katana out of the crack and then tossed it and one of his own off to the side.  
Sam understood and smiled to signal so, and the fight went on. The two sliced, swiped, and dodged for a while. Sam seemed to be much better at fighting with one blade rather than with two since her movements were suddenly much quicker. Leo thought that if the girl just had more strength to her, then even masters like Karai would shiver in fear when fighting her. If she was this quick and this skilled as an amateur, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to fight her as a trained ninja with more strength behind her. What amazed him the most was that every time he thought she was at a weak point, she quickly found a way to try and use that to her advantage. If he moved closer and used his arm to push her back or knock her down, she somehow found a way to then come back at an unexpected angle. Leo stepped forward and pushed her so that the only way to block the attack would be to turn and leave her backside wide open. Instead, she turned completely around and swung the blade over her head and behind her to block her back, and then as she pulled her blade forward and made Leo's katana pull back up, she then swiftly turned and tried to swing her leg near Leo's thigh. Once again, he knew that in a normal fight she would have spun further and aimed for her enemy's stomach and landed the kick there, but because her weight was outmatched, she aimed for a lower 'softer' part of his body instead.

The two continued to fight some until Mikey grew tired of sitting silent.  
"Leooooooooo! I want a turn!" Mikey whined.  
The fight ended, but Leo noticed Sam shaking her head with wide eyes and slowly backing away.  
"If you want me to fight with your weapon then I'm out, I surrender now, I'm bailing."  
All three of the older brothers looked over at her, their jaws almost touching the floor.  
"Wait, why?" Leo asked in shock.  
"Because I don't know how! After all I've done so far, I'm not embarrassing myself by fighting with a weapon I don't EVEN KNOW HOW to fight with yet!"  
"Lameeeeee" Mikey teased, "but fine, pick whatever weapon you want."  
Sam went back over, disconnected her tonfa, and ran back over to her side of the dojo.  
"This ought to be interesting" Leo mumbled as he sat between Raph and Donnie.

It was this fight that truly displayed how much Sam's training had paid off. All three observers were blown away with how rapidly she threw punches and kicks and with how swift and fluid each and every one of her motions was. It was extremely obvious that this was the weapon she had practiced with the most.

"Hey do the move" Mikey said as the two continued to spar.  
"What? No way. I'm not going to attack with a move when you know it ahead of time!"  
"That's because you can't do it."  
Sam glared at her friend as they fought, playfully signaling that she hated that he could read her like a book. With his short amount of teasing, Mikey backed up as Sam ran forward as she swung her right leg around, leading her to leap and spin herself in the air as she brought down one of her tonfa above Mikey's head.  
"Nice, but you still need to get higher" he said as the two continued to fight.  
This continued on as Mikey continued to call out moves and techniques that he wanted her to try, and their actions went more so from fighting to having Sam display all the moves she had been practicing.  
After a while, it was obvious that Sam was tired out.  
"Awww there's no round two?" Raph called out.  
"Dude, I just fought four people in an amount of time that way surpasses any of my games or performances. Give a girl a chance to breathe" she said as she fanned herself with her hand. "Besides, it's not like I'm going anywhere."  
Leo raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not going home?"  
"No, it's Friday, and I have a late game tomorrow, and then an even later rehearsal. I always stay late on weekends."  
"Might as well just move in" Raph said, his speech filled with sarcasm.  
"OKAY!" Mikey shouted, followed by a small grunt after being shoved by Raph.  
Ignoring his brother's antics, Leo walked over towards Sam. "I get this feeling you're going to be here even more once school ends right?"  
"Yup!" Sam replied with a beaming smile.  
"You interested in training with us?"  
She stared at him with a blank expression. "What's the joke?"  
"There is no joke."  
"…So you're serious?"  
"Yes."  
"You swear?"  
"Yeah."  
"Positive?"  
"Do you want me to say no?"  
"No I'm good!" Sam said, failing to hide her smile.

She expected to hear complaints from the other brother's as Leo turned away to head towards the kitchen, but they never came. All she heard afterwards was Donnie talking to Leo about some stuff he had found online about the Foot clan, and Raph teasing and wrestling with Mikey. Not too long after, Splinter had entered the lair from the entrance closest to the kitchen. He saw Sam standing in the entryway to the dojo and walked over to her.  
"Ah Samantha, how are you doing this evening?"  
"…what?" she asked, seeming a bit dazed.  
"Did something happen my child? Something good, bad?"  
"Um, that depends, are you okay if I join you and your family every now and then when you guys train together?"  
Splinter successfully hid his joy in knowing that things must be going well between her and his sons for her to be able to ask him this question. "Hmmm I don't know, do you think you'll be able to handle the same rigorous routines that they go through?"  
"Sir, I got this, especially after what happened today."  
"Then I don't see why not. Oh, but you'll have to call me sensei from now on though."  
"Got it, understood."  
"Come, why don't you join me in getting some refreshments from the kitchen."  
"Alright, thanks sensei" she said with a sincere smile as she walked over with him and joined the brothers in the kitchen.

Splinter continued to act natural, but he couldn't wait until much, much later that night when he would get a chance to sit down with Michelangelo who would update him on all that had happened while he was away from the lair.

 ***Later that night***

It was about 3a.m. when Leo awoke on the couch. He had been sitting upright with his head leaned back against the top of the couch. He slowly lifted his head up as he realized that he must have fallen asleep in the living room. Just as he went to stand up and head to his room, he realized there was some weight on his left thigh. He had to squint for a few seconds as his eyes adjusted to the darkness (there were various small lamps throughout the lair, but overall it was still hard to see unless the lights were turned on.) As his eyes adjusted, he realized that it was Sam who had laid her head down where his thigh was. The last thing he remembered was watching some re-runs of The Big Bang Theory with Sam and his brothers, so he assumed that maybe he had fallen asleep on the couch and that everyone else had headed to bed before Sam decided to get cozy in the position that she was. He began to blush a bit, but then he realized that he had seen this happen for a few weeks now.

The first time he saw this was a few weeks ago. Sam had been working with Donnie on the truck when they both discovered they were both fans of the new Planet of the Apes films and decided to watch the first two so that they could start preparing for the third. The two had fallen asleep together on the couch with Sam's head at one end and her lying across the couch so that her feet were at the other end, and then Donnie vice versa. He had seen this happen a few times between the two now that they were finding more movies and shows that they were both fans of.

Then, about a week ago, Leo woke up in the middle of the night and decided to go to the kitchen to get some water, only to find Raph and Sam asleep on the couch together. They were in the same position that he and Sam were in now, except it was Sam who was sitting upright and Raph who had his head on Sam's lap. He assumed that Raph had curled up in this position once Sam had already fallen asleep and assumed that he would wake up in time before anyone had caught him, even though both he and Mikey had caught Raph like this.

And then there was Mikey who was always snuggled up with his best friend. Sometimes Leo wondered about the two of them, since they would lay on the couch together with Sam lying right in front of Mikey. When he confronted his younger brother, he insisted that they both found lying down to be more comfortable than sitting up. When he then asked why sometimes Mikey would have his arm around the girl when lying on the couch, again he said that that way was more comfortable. Mikey also insisted that there could never be anything romantic between the two because A. he was into blonde girls with blue eyes, and B. because Sam was into Asian guys, so their relationship 'obviously' would never work out. There were a few times where Leo also confronted Sam when no one was around and asked her similar questions and oddly got similar responses. She said the same thing about their personal preferences, but she also admitted that being a tomboy, she saw it no different than when she saw close male friends from her k-pop groups do similar things with each other. It didn't mean there were any romantic relations between the groupmates, it just meant that they were all that close with each other, that they each had unique friendships and just did what felt comfortable. Both Sam and Mikey recognized that they were a guy and girl hanging out, but since Sam dressed and acted in a way that made it seem like she was just 'one of the guys,' it broke some barriers, resulting in the non-romantic feelings of cuddling up with each other on the couch. It was a bit odd and sometimes didn't really make any sense, but it was just how the two were.

Leo decided to roll with it, since both Sam and Mikey were very unique characters in his book. He continued to think back to moments where he could sense Donnie and Raph slowly warming up to Sam as he also began to realize that there hadn't been as much arguing and yelling, well, at or with Sam that is, since Raph was always yelling about something, and Mikey was just always loud in general. He carefully lifted her so that he could stand up, and then he gently lay her back down. He walked and got a blanket from his room and draped it over her as she slept soundly.

As he headed back to his room he realized that as much as he felt defeated by it, he couldn't deny that he now saw the girl as a friend. She was talking with all four of the brothers more and more and had even been holding conversations with April, and he'd be a liar if he said that he didn't enjoy the conversations that he had had with her. He'd also be a liar if he said that he didn't enjoy the sparring from earlier that day. Each of his brothers had chosen their own weapon that only they had truly mastered, so it was fun getting to fight someone else who could use the same weapon as him. Once again, he had walked all the way to his bedroom without realizing there was a smile on his face, but there was a difference in this situation. This time, if someone had told him that he had been smiling, he wouldn't have denied it.

 **Sorry for such a late update! But hopefully this super long chapter makes up for it.**

 **So, are the fight scenes still decent? Is there anything I need to improve on? Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!**

 **And thank you for continuing to read my story so far! I still can't believe I now have 14 chapters of a story that I can actually and officially call mine! So thank you to those who have continued to give my story a chance, it really does mean a lot!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #15

 ***June 12** **th** **, Thursday, late evening: Sam and Mikey's POV***

Today was the last day of school for that year, so Sam and Mikey decided to head out that night as early as possible. For weeks now the two had been sneaking out and fighting crime together around town. They had only focused on smaller crimes that the two thought they could handle on their own as a duo, but slowly they had ben tackling more difficult crimes as well. Their goal was always to stop whatever the crime was before the cops needed to be called, and so far they had always been successful. Tonight was going to be their biggest challenge yet, sneaking in and spying on one of the Foot's hideouts. For the past few weeks that Sam and Mikey had been fighting together, they had also been spying on the Foot's whereabouts as best as they could, and so far the two had pin-pointed a specific building on Dot Street that seemed to be one of their newest locations. The two friends knew better than to storm in and attack on their own, they weren't that crazy, but they did plan on sneaking in for some harmless observations.

"Alright, now repeat the plan back to me" Sam said as she double checked her back pack to make sure that it was tight and secured around her body.  
"We're going to enter the building through this vent up here, you're going to use your tablet as we slowly and carefully crawl through the vents so you can edit any cameras or detectors of any kind. I'm supposed to hold onto your hacking phone and try to record any and all voices and conversations that I hear. If possible, I should also silently take pictures if possible. After a couple of hours or so, we're going to head back to the roof, make our way over to that parking garage next door, and you're going to try your best to set up and hack into any documents from the Foot's latest hideout" Mikey replied with a smile. Both friends were proud that he had actually understood and remembered every detail that Sam had explained to him.  
"Wow, well done. Looks like I don't have to repeat myself today."  
"Thanks, I think" he said as he nudged her.  
"Okay, you ready?"  
"Phone is attached to my cross-over strap, so I'm all set."  
"Booyakasha" she said as she held her fist in front of her.  
"Cowabunga" he replied while also returning the fist bump. Mikey then carefully pulled open the vent opening at the top of the building, allowed Sam to slide through and down the curved opening, and then he followed as he carefully pulled the vent covering back on.

For about ten minutes or so the two didn't travel far since Sam had to take care of a lot of security measures. She already had to edit and disarm A LOT of cameras and alarms beforehand just so that they could even walk around and talk on the roof of the building, but she still had a lot to do before they could go roaming around the vents of the building. Finally she had hacked what she saw necessary, and slowly the two were on the move. For a long time the two crawled around the vents moving from room to room and even from floor to floor. They tried to find something interesting on the upper floors so that if something went wrong they could escape easily from the rooftops, but nothing suspicious could be found. All they could hear and see were Foot soldiers and Purple Dragons members walking around or training. Sam wasn't picking up on any phone calls being made or even any emails being sent. That's when it hit her. She quickly started typing on a note pad screen on her tablet, swiftly rolled over onto her back, and then handed the tablet to Mikey so he could read it.  
 _"I think there's a chance Shredder might be here somewhere."  
_ Mikey's eyes went wide as he typed in response and then handed the tablet back to Sam.  
 _"What makes you think that?"  
"I'm not picking up on any phone calls being made or emails being sent, which means there's a good chance that Shredder is already here with a lot of his main men, that's why no messages are being sent back and forth."  
"What should we do? Is this too big for us then?"  
"No, as long as we vow only to observe, but we'll only stay on the top five floors and we should cut down our time to about another 45 minutes or so."  
_Mikey read the words on the screen and gave Sam a thumbs up. She took back the tablet and the two continued to slowly crawl throughout the vents.  
The entire 45 minutes consisted of nothing but what they had seen before Sam had discussed with Mikey about Shredder's location. The two were in the vents of the 10th of 15 floors when finally they found something that sent a chill down both their spines, Shredder himself.

Shredder was in what looked like an office space with five other people. The two got their devices ready as they listened closely as they resided by a section of the vent towards the right side of the room that would lead them to the next floor up in case they needed a quick getaway.

"Tatsu, how are things going with the males? Have they improved any?" Shredder asked as he faced the middle aged looking Asian man in the room.  
"They've definitely improved, but they still have a long way to go. Forgive me master, I'm trying the best I can to train and control the children. I try not to harm them, but at times it's what I must do. I understand if none of this meets your expectations and I'm ready to face any punishment you deem necessary" the man said as he bowed.  
"You're fine Tatsu, I brought you here to help train them for a reason. They're annoying brats, so do whatever you need to. Don't kill them, but if you must torture them then so be it. They'll eventually learn to bow to you and I. They're mine and they will learn this soon enough. Karai," he said as he then faced the younger Asian female, "how about you? How is your training going with the females?"  
"Overall the same details master, though I've been very rough with them from the start. If I may offer some advice to Tatsu" she said as she faced her companion, "don't worry about harming them in anyway. I discussed with our master early on, and me being violent towards them has helped tremendously in instilling fear into their eyes while also forcing them to hone their strength and skills. They all still have a long way to go, but they're also improving quicker than I would have expected."  
Tatsu and Shredder nodded, and then Shredder turned towards a large, buff man with blonder hair pulled back into a ponytail.  
"Hun, how about you?"  
"Not many of them are able to understand how our weapons work, but there are a select few who seem to naturally grasp on to what their told. They all shiver in fear, but even when we scare them into following orders, only a few truly understand and can comprehend how to use the guns. With your blessing master, I would like to focus on making them gun specialists, and let Karai and Tatsu focus on taming the others."  
"Alright, as long as this will benefit my army, then I'll allow it. They better be well trained in the end then."  
"Thank you master, you won't regret this" Hun said as he bowed.  
Shredder then turned to his last student, Eric Sachs. "And how about you?"  
"*sigh* If I may be blunt sensei, these creatures are idiots when it comes to our technology. Luckily, there is one who somehow is an incredible genius and actually loves working in the lab. I've been forcing our workers to teach him all they know, while being closely monitored of course, so that he can use both his brains and his brawn to work for us."  
"Which one would that be?"  
"The alligator. I believe I've heard the other creatures call him Leatherhead."  
Shredder nodded. "If he's the only one worth teaching, then focus on him."  
"I understand sensei" Sachs said as he bowed.

"Alright, for now you are all doing well my students. Do whatever you need to in order to strengthen our army. Remember, you all are also on recruitment and training duty for our human soldiers as well, including watching over this one" he said as he turned toward Jordon Perry who was timidly hunched over in the corner of the room. Sam and Mikey were shocked to see him standing here, and they hated the blank stare from his eyes. His body shook with fear, but his solid gaze signaled that he had already endured some type of torture while he had been there.

Suddenly, different alarms began going off. Mikey and Sam froze, waiting to see how the people in the room would react.  
Karai was the first to speak. "This is the fire alarm, maybe they picked up someone's scent. Master, what are your orders."  
"Take that shivering noodle in the corner and bring him with us. We'll use this as an attempt for our mutants to test their skills, see if there's any we shouldn't even worry about and should just get rid of now. Hun, Tatsu, advise your men to observe and report back to me what they can of the mutants skills afterwards. Meet with the rest of us at the main base, this is not our time to fight, we must prepare for a more serious future battle."  
All four adults bowed to their master, Karai grabbed the professor, and they all left the room to do what they needed to before they left the building.

Once they had all exited the room, Sam and Mikey moved as quickly as they could. The vents were roomy enough to crawl through, but they were horrible for quick getaways. Sam saw hordes of soldiers running to the lower floors, so once she thought they were in the clear, she led Mikey to an opening in the side of the vent. She kicked it open and the two were now walking around the 13th of 15 floors. The floor was empty, but they two got their weapons out as they ran and looked for a way they could move to the roof without being seen. They talked as they quickly moved around the hallways, looking for a staircase.

"Do…do you think Shredder used the kidnapped animals to create a mutant army?" Sam asked, depressed at thinking of innocent animals working for a madman like Shredder.  
"I do, and what's worse is that it sounds like he's torturing them and the professor. How did Shredder get his hands on him anyway? We rescued him!"  
"Yeah, or at least we thought we di-"

Sam and Mikey collided with two large beings in front of them as they rounded a corner. The two jumped back up and had their weapons ready to fight, but slowly they lowered their weapons, and their jaws followed. They both knew they were screwed as they stared at the also jaw dropped and pissed faces of Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael.

 ***Earlier that evening: Leo, Donnie, and Raph POV***

Donnie was always doing the best that he could to track the Foot's movements. Sometimes he was more successful than others, the night where they couldn't get in contact with Mikey being a good example of the moments where he wasn't so successful and the Foot had the upper hand on them, but tonight was not one of those nights. For a few weeks he had been able to use news articles, hacked police reports, and also hacked video footage throughout the city to pin point a solid location that the Foot were currently hiding at. He had a feeling it wasn't their only base, but he thought that it was a good place to sneak into and try to gather as much information as he could about what Shredder's next big plan was.

He had informed Leo of this earlier, and both the two and Raph had set out to gather any information they could. They were a few blocks away when they stopped on a roof top so that Donnie could start his hacking.  
"Still feels weird doing this without Mikey" Raph said looking off into the distance.  
"Don't worry, this time should be different" Donnie said as he pulled out multiple small devices and started typing away on each. "This time we know we're just sneaking around, and once I've disabled as many of their security devices as possible, then we shouldn't even have to worry about fighting anyone because we shouldn't come into contact with anyone. So if Mikey wants to hang out with Sam since it's her last day of school, then we should still be fine. Besides, he'd probably joke around too much in this type of situation. I mean he couldn't even keep quiet on the night that we went after Sam for the first time."  
"That seems like so long ag now" Leo said aloud as he continued to look out into the distance, constantly alert and on the lookout for anyone who might try to pull a fast attack on them.  
"I agree, but I think it's only been a matter of months…that's weird."  
The older two brothers took a quick glance at the youngest. Raph continued his look out while Leo moved closer to Donnie.  
"What's going on?"  
"A lot of their main security systems have already been altered or disabled…which means that someone else may be sneaking around inside."  
"Oh come on! Please don't tell me it's our two idiots!" Raph shouted.  
"There's no way of knowing, but the type of skills and knowledge needed for this is quite complicated, which means there is a chance that it's them" Donnie replied as he rolled his head back, hoping that it wasn't Sam and Mikey. The way those two acted together, he feared that they would get caught instantly.  
"There has to be a way to contact them" Leo said with a bit of worry in his tone.  
"Sadly if he forgot to lower the volume on his shell cell, then we could easily be the reason that the two get caught, IF it is them. I don't know which situation is worse."  
"What do you mean?" Raph asked from afar.  
"If it's not them, then who knows who is actually sneaking around inside, and it could be bad news if they end up being another enemy towards us."  
"Regardless, we have to at least continue our main mission and try to gather any and all information that we can, especially if those two are in there" Leo stated.  
The other two brothers nodded, Donnie packed up all his belongings, and they all set out towards the main building on Dot Street.

Within a few minutes the three reached their destination. Donnie had some small Go-Pro cameras that he handed to each of his brothers. All three of them had at least one strap that went across their chest that held some type of weapon or piece of equipment, so they each set up a small camera that could hopefully capture something that would be useful to them later on.

"Are we good to go Donnie?" Leo asked.  
Donnie looked at a couple of small devices and then put them back into their holders. "From what I can tell, all main alarms have been disarmed. The few alarms that are still running have been altered to give us about two more hours for sneaking around. There's 15 floors to this building, so I'd recommend staying towards the upper floors as much as possible so that in case something goes wrong, we can still try to make a quick getaway."  
Leo nodded. "Alright, everyone have your cells ready in case we need to send an important update. We'll split up for now and try to move around and gather whatever we can. Stay in the vents unless there's an emergency situation. And STAY. QUIET" Leo said as he glared over at Raph, who rolled his eyes in return.  
"Alright, we're on the move" Leo said as he pulled open the cover of the vent. The younger two brothers entered first, and then Leo followed as he pulled the cover back onto the vent.

The three crawled around for a long time only for each of them to find the same thing. They saw and heard Foot Soldiers and Purple Dragons members roaming around the halls or training in one of their rooms, but they didn't hear or see anything interesting, not until their 40 minute mark. Raph had been crawling around the 10th of the 15 floors when he happened to come across what seemed like a large office space. He was about to move on when Karai entered the room. He paused and tried to listen in as best as he could. He heard her instruct some soldiers on what they were to teach the subjects while she was at her meeting that would be held in about 5 more minutes. As the soldiers left the room, Raph's eyes went wide as he recognized the man that entered the room, Shredder.  
"Karai," Shredder said as he bowed, "where are the others?"  
"They'll be here soon master, they should only be a few more minutes" she replied after she bowed in return.

Raph instantly sent a message to his brothers.  
 _"Shredder is in the building! He's about the have a meeting with Karai. Meet me in the vents of the 10_ _th_ _floor near the left side of the room of a large office space."_

Within the next couple of minutes both Leo and Donnie reunited with Raph in the vents. They listened carefully as they observed both the familiar faces of Shredder, Karai, and Eric Sachs, and also the new faces of men named Hun and Tatsu. All the brothers were confused as the humans below talked about males and females and whether they were doing well or if they weren't understanding what they were being taught. They all sat silently except for when Donnie lightly gasped when Sachs mentioned an alligator, but after that he made sure to stay silent.

"Alright," Shredder began, "for now you are all doing well my students. Do whatever you need to in order to strengthen our army. Remember, you all are also on recruitment and training duty for our human soldiers as well, including watching over this one" he said as he turned toward Jordon Perry who was timidly shrugged over in the corner of the room. The man had been so incredibly quiet that none of the brothers had even noticed him in the room.

Just then, an alarm went off. The brothers stayed silent and still, not moving until the saw how the humans below would react.  
Karai was the first to speak. "This is the fire alarm, maybe they picked up someone's scent. Master, what are your orders?"  
"Take that shivering noodle in the corner and bring him with us. We'll use this as an attempt for our mutants to test their skills, see if there's any we shouldn't even worry about and should just get rid of now. Hun, Tatsu, advise your men to observe and report back to me what they can of the mutants skills afterwards. Meet with the rest of us at the main base, this is not our time to fight, we must prepare for a more serious future battle."

After they saw the humans leave the room, the three brothers scurried through the vents, trying to get to the upper level nearest to the roof of the building as quickly as they could. The vents were roomy enough to crawl through, but they were horrible for quick getaways, so when Donnie noticed that all the soldiers were running downstairs, he waited until they found a clear spot where no one was in sight and he kicked the vent cover in the wall. The other two brothers followed him as they all ran around the 13th floor looking for a staircase.  
"Is he keeping an eye on us? What did he mean by 'this is an attempt for our mutants to test their skills'?" Raph asked as they ran.  
"And what did he mean by 'our human soldiers as well'?" Leo asked.  
"If my fears are correct, Shredder has been using the stolen animals from the zoo and the pet shops to create his own-"

Donnie was cut off as he had collided with someone. He winced, and as he opened his eyes again he noticed that Leo had also collided with someone as all three of them had rounded a corner in the hallway. He reached for his bo staff as his brothers also reached for their weapons. Once they all saw who was facing them they slowly lowered their weapons, and their jaws followed. Each of them feeling a bit pissed as they saw the also jaw dropped faces of Sam and Mikey.

 ***Everyone's POV***

"I KNEW IT!" Raph shouted.  
"Why? Just why?!" Leo asked in annoyance.  
"We totally haven't been doing this for weeks!" Mikey stated with wide eyes.  
Sam rolled hers and turned towards Mikey. "Okay so remember what we talked about how in certain situations I do the talking and you stand there and look pretty? This is one of those situations" she said giving her friend an annoyed smile.  
"Hehe, my bad" he said as he slowly backed away.  
"Why are you even here?" Leo asked furiously.  
"Sam pin pointed this as the newest and most visited Foot hideout, so we came to sneak around and gather any information and we did Leo you'll never believe this-"  
"Shredder is creating a mutant army with the stolen animals" Donnie cut in.  
"Wait, how did you-?"  
"We had the same idea Mikey, that's why we're here. We all probably heard the same meeting a matter of minutes ago before you two set the alarm off."  
"See I knew this would happen! Look at the influence they have on each other, and now it's risked getting us all hurt or killed!" Raph said as he roared with frustration.  
Sam went to speak, but was cut off just as she opened her mouth.  
"HEY! I've been right behind her the entire time, and I know that she hasn't done anything to set these alarms off! Don't go blaming this on us!" Mikey said, defending his best friend.  
"Then how else did we all get caught? None of us did anything!" Raph responded.  
"Scent" Sam and Donnie groaned.  
All eyes were on the two nerds of the group.  
"Karai mentioned that at the meeting. I'm sure some of the mutant animals probably have a heightened sense of smell."  
"Ahhh! I should have thought of that, but I got distracted as soon as we saw the professor again" Sam groaned in defeat.  
Donnie squinted his eyes and looked over at her. "What do you mean again?"  
 **"** Yup it's best when you do the talking Sam" Mikey said sarcastically, followed by Sam glaring at him. **  
**"WHY?!" Leo shouted.  
Sam slowly turned back towards the eldest brother, giving him a nervous smile. "Heyyy. So, how about we talk later when there aren't alarms-"  
"How long has this been going on?" Leo asked, demanding an answer.  
Sam looked at the ground as she answered. "A few weeks now."  
"We finally begin trusting you and this is what you do? And YOU!" he shouted as he glared and pointed his finger at Mikey, "what the hell do you think you're doing? You know better than to agree or even suggest sneaking around FOOT HEADQUARTERS without the rest of us! Do you ever think before you make these decisions? And YOU!" he shouted as he now faced and pointed at Sam, "I let you into our home to PREVENT THIS SHIT! I said you could visit the lair whenever you wanted so that you two wouldn't have to sneak around like how you used to, and yet you STILL continue to lie to me and go behind my back and do things that can put not only you, but all of my family in danger!"  
"Well if you'd stop treating me like an outsider Jay, but nooo-"  
"What did you call me?" Leo asked in confusion. All four brothers look at her, confused at what she had just said.  
She stopped for a second, processing what she just said. "Leo, I called you Leo."  
"No you didn't" Raph growled.  
"Might as well call you Nick" she mumbled.  
"What are you getting at?" Raph shouted as he rushed towards Sam. Sam went to rush towards him as well, but she was pulled back by Mikey, just as Raph was pulled back by Donnie and Leo.  
"What did you mean by that? Treated as an outsider" Leo asked as he continued to glare at Sam.  
"Even now you guys are still on edge when you talk to me, so there's no way you would let me go out and fight with you guys!"  
"In case you didn't notice, you're a regular human being with a normal life! You're not like us!"  
"Ha! Normal life? Funny! You don't know shit about me!"  
"Hard to believe when you're at the lair all the damn time now!"  
"How about you get to know my fist then?"  
"HEY!" Mikey cut in as he pushed Sam back some. Instantly her face softened and she was calm as she now faced Michelangelo. "Your families broken up, I get that, but you're taking your anger out on the wrong person."  
She processed his words and nodded in response. "You're right" she said as she pursed her lips.

She took a step forward so that she could apologize to Leo, but just then Donnie shouted 'duck!'  
Everyone ducked down until Donnie signaled that they were safe.  
"I just saw four giant frogs walk by, and they didn't look friendly. They'll be walking in the same direction that we're heading shortly."  
"You need to hide" Leo said as he faced Sam.  
"What!? No way!"  
"Go now, or I'll kick your butt" Raph said with an angry smile.  
"Challenge accepted" she replied, displaying a similar expression.  
"Sam," Mikey cut in, "that's like fighting one of us head on, and if they somehow gang up on you, that's like you versing all of us at once" he said in a concerned tone of voice.  
She paused and focused on his worried expression, and then took her friends concern into consideration. "Fine" she said with a defeated frown.  
Mikey gave her a small smile and put his fist out in front of him.  
Sam paused. "You're not gonna say it?"  
"I can't" he said as he nodded his head back towards Raph.  
"Right, got'cha" she said with a smile as she participated in the fist bump.  
"They're heading towards that open space down the hall, we need to go" Donnie informed.  
Sam looked above her and noticed another vent. She pulled a kunai knife from her back pack and took a few steps back. She then ran forward, jumped forward so that she could re-direct herself using the wall, and then aimed her knife upward so that it dug into the vent cover, and as she came back down she yanked the cover from the ceiling.  
"Is this a good enough hiding spot?" she asked as she faced Leo.  
"No, the safest hiding spot is at home, since you're leaving."  
"But-"  
"Since you're leaving" Mikey said with a smile. As much as he loved the crime fighting duo he had formed with Sam, her safety was always his first and main concern, and he thought that even with her continuously improving skills, this fight was too much for her.  
"Since I'm leaving" Sam mocked as she repeated the previous steps, allowing her to climb up into the vent.

After Leo saw her crawl away, he heard a voice call out and say "Hey Rasputin, Genghis, Napoleon! I finally found them!"  
"Nice Attilla!"  
All four turtles looked forward and saw four giant mutant frogs from way across the room. There was a large open space between the two groups of four that seemed to be a training space based on all the mats and various types of equipment lined along the walls.  
"Alright guys, pick a frog, do your best to knock him out, and then we're out of here!"  
"This will be fun" Raph said with an evil grin, and then both groups of four were charging towards each other.

Leo ran over and started fighting a frog who was a bright yellow-green color who was holding an axe. The frog's axe clashed with Leo's katanas, both putting all their strength into each swing that they took.

Raph ran over towards a frog who was a forest green color and held a flail with a spiked ball at the end. The frog swiftly tried swinging the spiked ball around to hit Raph, but Raph was quicker than the frog and dodged every attack. Eventually Raph was able to hook both his sais through the chains of the flail, but when both he and the frog pulled back on their weapons, it pulled both their weapons out of their hands. After this, the two resorted to hand to hand combat.

Donnie ran over to another forest green colored frog who held a bow and arrows. The frog had good aim, but Donnie was always quick enough to move away from where the arrows were being launched. The two would fight close up every time Donnie got closer, the frog using his bow to defend attacks from Donnie's bo staff, and then the frog would try to retreat some so that he could launch more arrows. The two repeated this for a while.

Mikey ran up to a frog who was a very dark shade of green who held a whip. Both were very quick on their feet and used rapid arm movements when using their weapons as well. Every time the frog cracked his whip, Mikey was always right on time to block the attack with his nun chucks.

Sam hated watching from the vents. She could see that the turtles weren't struggling, but they weren't winning either. Each turtle's strength and speed was evenly matched with their frog counterpart. She wasn't sure how long the frogs had been training with these weapons, but whatever the length of time had been, they must have exceled rapidly. Sam wanted to run down there and help fight. The only way the turtles could win without completely draining themselves was if someone or something helped aide them in their fight, and that's exactly what she was going to do.

 **Themes:  
One Ok Rock-Start Again  
One Ok Rock-I Was King  
Yellowcard-Only One**

Sam observed each fight, wondering what the most strategic thing to do was. She knew she needed to help aide one fight, but which one? The frog with the arrows was the biggest of the four, but Donnie seemed to be holding his own against him. The frogs with the axe and the flail were both very muscular, but again, Raph and Leo were doing fine in defending themselves. Mikey was also doing a good job in defending himself, but his frog opponent with the whip was the thinnest of the frogs, so Sam decided that she would help take him out so that Mikey could go help his other brothers.  
She moved back towards the vent opening and jumped down. She grabbed one of her tonfa from her back pack.  
All the groups were distracted, and Mikey and the frog with the whip were the furthest from where she was standing.  
 _"Perfect, that's enough distance for me to pick up enough speed and launch myself towards him"_ Sam thought to herself.  
She then sprinted forward running toward the frog as she faced his back. She then leaped and swung the tonfa around his neck, grabbing onto it with both hands and pulling back on it while her feet were planted on his lower back. Mikey wasn't sure what to do, since one wrong swing and he could accidentally hit Sam instead of the frog. The frog pulled at his neck, unable to loosen the tonfa that was crushing his throat. He then turned around and rushed backwards towards the wall in hopes to smash the girl against it, but just as he got close to the wall, Sam swung herself around to the side of his body. The frog crashed his back into the wall as he cried out in pain. Mikey then ran up and punched the frog in the face, landing a solid hit. The frogs nose began to bleed some as he came crashing down to the ground.  
"NAPOLEON!" the one frog yelled, only to then be hit by Raph.

Just then, a group of about ten Foot soldiers came running through the opening that Sam had just run through.  
"Sam you need to leave" Mikey said.  
"Whether you like it or not, I just gave you the upper hand a moment ago, and I can still do that."  
"Sam…"  
"It's okay, you've trained me for this" she said with a reassuring smile. "I'll lead as many of them as I can out of here and then I'll come back. You need to defeat these guys so that you can help your brothers."  
Mikey nodded, and the two charged forward.

Using both of her tonfa to defend herself, Sam ran through and then past the group charging towards her. Just as she had hoped, five soldiers continued to run forward towards Mikey, and the other five turned around and chased after her. Sam darted through the hallways, trying to find anything that could help her. She couldn't find anything, and as much as it grossed it her out, she decided that the best thing would be to try and use her kunai and shuriken to try and slow down the soldiers. Every time she rounded a corner she would swiftly turn back and throw her knives at the soldiers, aiming for their knees. This way she would only be hurting the soldiers and they could later be collected by the police and rot their lives away in jail, rather than her having to actually kill anyone.

She turned a corner and her knife landed in the man's thigh, resulting in him stumbling and no longer being able to run. She rounded another corner and did the same, landing a shuriken star right in the man's shin. She did this and then eventually circled back, punching her way through each fallen soldier. She stopped once she had punched and knocked out the last of the five soldiers. She then quickly dragged each of them next to each other, forming a small soldier pile so that they wouldn't get trampled if anyone happened to storm through the hallways. As she stood back up, she something run by further down the hallway in her peripheral vision. She quickly ran around the corner and saw that it was Donnie who had run down the hallway. She assumed that she would see the giant forest colored frog again, but this time Donnie was being chased by a gigantic alligator who was even taller than Donnie was, and buffer than any of the frogs. Sam could tell that this time Donnie was out matched just in size alone. _  
"Maybe that's why he's running down the halls with him chasing behind him, maybe he tried to lead him away from his brother's. How many other mutants are here then?"_ Sam thought to herself.  
Sam then looked over and saw that the elevator buttons had been smashed. Filled with curiosity, she used her strength to push open the doors and was shocked to see that the platform had crashed and fallen down to the bottom, and all the thick wires and chains that were used so that the elevators could travel from floor to floor had been cut. Sam then caught a glimpse of Donnie as he threw open the staircase door and sprinted up the stairs with the giant alligator right behind him. She didn't know how to describe it, but somehow she felt that it meant something that she just happened to notice this right before she saw those two run up the staircase.  
She quickly rummaged through her back pack and found a thick lanyard cable, a harness with straps of nylon webbing, metal snap hooks, and a small metal ball with a small metal handle. As she pulled each item from her bag, she could hear the voices of Donatello and the alligator slowly getting closer and closer as she heard them through the now open elevator doors. She set everything up just like how Donnie had taught her. She lightly squeezed the metal ball, and it then opened up to reveal three suction cups. She then shoved the suction cupped side onto the wall parallel to the elevator and then quickly put the harness on around her chest. She then used the metal snap hooks and the thick lanyard to connect herself to the suction cupped platform which she used as an anchor platform.  
She carefully moved toward the opening of the elevator and looked up, trying to see what was going on. She gasped when she saw that somehow the alligator had literally grabbed Donnie by the face. No matter how much Donnie thrashed his arms and legs around, there was nothing he could do to prevent what was about to happen to him. Sam tried to hang back some so that she could be prepared for what came next.

Suddenly, the alligator let go of the turtle he had been holding onto, and without warning, Donatello dropped downward from the 15th floor. Luckily, the alligator turned as soon as he had let go of the turtle, so he didn't see Sam lean forward and unexpectedly grab Donnie's arms.  
Once Donnie felt something grab him, he grabbed onto whatever or whoever it was as quickly as he could. He heard a groan come from above him, and he was shocked when he looked up and saw Sam fighting with all her might to pull him up.  
All of sudden, Sam slipped and landed on her knees right where the edge of the floor was. She cried out in pain as her knees dug into the edge of the floor while she herself was now leaning further down into the elevator shaft, her body falling forward as far as the thick lanyard would allow her to go.  
"Arghhhhh if anyone ever says anything about you being thin, punch them in the face for me for being so stupid!" she cried out.  
Once Donatello got a solid grip on Sam's hands, he was able to place his feet on the side of the wall and tried jumping up some. Sam was then able to help pull him up some when he jumped, and Donnie was able to get his elbow up onto the edge where the elevator opening was. After this, it was much easier for them both to pull him up until both their bodies were back onto solid ground.  
"How…how did you know…to prep for that?" Donnie asked with staggered breaths, relieved to finally feel safe on solid ground again.  
"Honestly…lucky intuition…not really sure…I just had a strange feeling…when I saw you go up…the stairs" she replied while also trying to catch her breath. "Dude, you're physically lying to everyone. You're thin, but you're not light, AT ALL."  
He chuckled until he looked down and saw some red on the floor near where her knees were.  
"How are your knees?" he asked with concern.  
"They'll be fine" she said as she leaned forward some so that her knees were flat against the floor so that they couldn't be seen.  
"Sit still" Donnie instructed as he reached for one of the many small packs scattered throughout the belts around his waist. He pulled out some Neosporin and some bandage wraps and placed them on the ground as he kneeled down and gently pushed Sam back some so that he could look at her knees. He felt a wave of guilt rush over him as he began to patch up her scraped up knees.  
"Don't worry," she reassured him, "it looks worse than it is. The cut looks deep, but it doesn't seem like anything permanent or crucial and life threatening" she said with a smile.  
He made a small smile in return. He was just glad to see that she was okay and that the wound wasn't anything serious.  
"You literally saved my life back there, thanks."  
"No problem!" she said as she made the O.K. signal with her hands.  
This made Donnie a bit upset. "Is this all a game to you? If that cable had snapped than you could have been killed."  
Her expression softened. "Of course not. But life has thrown me some curve balls that now make me kind of live for this."  
"Risking your life?!"  
"Helping protect others" she said with sincerity.  
His expression softened as he wondered what she had experienced that made her want to live her life on edge. What had made her give up on living a normal life and want to live an adrenaline filled one instead where she didn't care if the final outcome could lead to her death? He snapped back to reality as he realized he was still putting bandage wraps on her knees. He finished after a few more seconds, put his supplies away, and stood up as he reached a hand out to her. "Do you think you can walk?"  
Sam took his hand and stood up, she gathered her materials as she spoke to him. "Oh no, walking is going to make this sting like a bitch. I need to run this pain off, that way I can rub it in both your older brothers' faces that I saved your life" she said as she started sprinting down the hallway.  
"Why do you need to rub it in their faces?" he asked as he quickly ran behind her.  
"Because they're the ones who still don't believe that I should be patrolling the city with you" she said as she ran up the stairs and through a hallway on the 14th floor.

The two then ran across a balcony that led across the top of the open space where the fight had begun. Raph was the only one left of the four turtles still fighting in the open training space, but now it was he who was fighting the giant alligator, and it was obvious that he was having a hard time fighting on the offensive side. Sam quickly ran over top of where the two were fighting as she grabbed her skateboard rod from her back pack and extended it so that the full board was exposed. She leaped over the balcony ledge and she slammed her board against the back of the alligators head.  
He hunched over and grabbed the back of his head as it throbbed from the unexpected hit. While he was distracted, Raph then ran up and elbowed the gator in the stomach, and then shoved his wrist up, hitting the gator in the chin. Donnie then appeared and swung his bow behind the gators knees, making him fall down and bang his head hard on the ground.  
"He should be fine, I'm sure he'll be sore when he wakes up, but he's not going to die or experience any serious trauma" Donnie stated.  
"You're welcome!" Sam announced as she faced Raph.  
He glared at her. "You shouldn't be here…but that was a nice hit. Thanks."  
"Where are the others?" she asked as she looked around the room.  
"Mikey eventually helped me take down my guy since he was the largest, that's when that gator came in. Donnie led him away, and I was able to help Mikey take down the remaining frog guys. After that a crap ton more soldiers came back along with that gator. Mikey and Leo lead the soldiers away and I was left to take care of this guy."  
Donnie pulled out his shell cell and typed away. "Alright, they're both nearby. We need to move now and help them."  
Sam and Raph nodded as they followed Donnie as he led the way.

They ran down a few hallways when suddenly Sam was grabbed and pulled into a room. She tried to flail her arms so that the attacker would lose their grip, but she soon realized that it was multiple arms that were grabbing her.  
"Tie her up ladies! Candy, Sprinkles, make sure that door is locked tight!"  
"Sam! SAM!" could be heard from the boys on the other side, but Sam couldn't do anything to contact them.  
"*click* Titian, Bramante, Hachiko, can you take care of these two?" A female voice asked into what sounded like a walkie talkie.  
" _Roger that_ " replied the voice. " _Tokka and Razhar are collecting Leatherhead, and Slash, Venus, and Ame are heading towards the other two's location as well."  
_ A blindfold was then thrown over her face as she was pulled and moved around. There were several voices talking at one time, so it was difficult for her to listen for anything that would let her know of her whereabouts, or if there was anything nearby that could help her escape. A few minutes later, Sam was tossed into a room. As soon as she stood up she yanked her blindfold off and reached for her weapons. Her eyes went wide as she saw who it was standing around her. Eight different female animals had her surrounded in the office space that Shredder had had his meeting in earlier. Each animal had a black t-shirt and black shorts on. Now that she thought of it, each of the mutants she had seen earlier all had black shorts on, so she assumed that this is what their uniform consisted of.  
She looked around at each of the animals. The group consisted of a young looking turtle, three foxes, (two orange-brown and one snow white) a gecko, a salamander, a lioness, and a pink cat.  
"What do you want with me?" Sam said as she glared at all of them.  
The lioness stepped forward. "Names Sally Pride, thought you should know the name of the woman who's going to beat the shit out of you. You're here because you hurt some of our closest friends, so we're going to do the same to you."  
Sam smirked. "Well, you gotta go-" she then dropped one of tonfa as she grabbed the closest female, the young turtle, "through this one first."  
All the females growled and snarled as they raised their weapons, wanting to attack but knowing that doing so could harm their captive friend.  
Sam looked at all of them and then looked down at the girl she was holding. Sam gazed over the turtle and noticed that she seemed much younger than many of the other girls in the room.  
"How old are you?" she asked gently.  
"I'm not sure, but I know I'm one of the youngest" she replied in a similar tone.  
"DON'T ANSWER HER!" the salamander shouted.  
"You're a child, Shredder literally has a young child fighting for him" Sam stated. She released her grip on the girl and let her rush back over to her friends. "I can't do this, you're not the one I want to fight, and you are innocent in all of this." Sam then looked back over at the lioness. "I didn't mean to hurt your friends, I only did so because they hurt mine. But none of us should be fighting each other. I don't know what Shredder has done to you, but he's a murderer, he's the reason I learned to fight, so that I could defend myself in case he ever came back. Shredder stole everything from me, but it's not fair for me to take all that rage out on you. You were all kidnapped and forced into this, that's why our friends are fighting each other. I swear the four turtles I came here with are all good guys…but I understand if you don't believe me." Sam then dropped her weapons and dropped to her knees. "If it will make you that happy to beat me up for what I've done to your friends, then so be it. But before you do, please tell me why you're pink" she said as she looked over at the pink mutant cat.  
The cat chuckled. "A kid dropped his ice cream cone in my cage at the pet store, so when I was mutated, the pink ice cream on my fur altered how I look. I also smell like cotton candy 24/7. Everyone nick-names me ice cream kitty, but I decided for my designated name to be sprinkles. I don't mind being called either though" she said with a big smile.  
Sam smiled back at her, glad to know that whatever had happened to these mutants, it didn't stop this one from smiling the way she did.  
Just then, the lioness lowered her arms, signaling for all the other females to lower their weapons. Sam looked at her with confusion written all over her face.  
Sally Pride walked over and kneeled in front of Sam.  
"Your eyes, the tone of your voice, they're both similar to those of mine and my friends throughout the weeks that we've been here. I can tell that Shredder has hurt you to. I won't harm you, but only if you promise to help us."  
"Only on one condition!"  
Sally tilted her head. "And that would be?"  
"I need you to tell me your names. I hate when I'm talking to people and I don't know who they are. I mean, I know Shredder and his soldiers kidnapped all of you, but I don't personally know any of you yet."  
Sally nodded her head and smiled. "Alright, like I said, I'm Sally Pride." She then pointed to the next person behind her on her left.  
"Well, I'm ice cream kitty, aka Sprinkles" the cat stated.  
Next was the white fox. "Names Alopex" she said seriously.  
"Mona Lisa" claimed the blue and purple salamander in a similar tone.  
"Hey, I'm Candy!" exclaimed the black and yellow gecko.  
"I'm Umeko! The younger sister!" exclaimed the younger looking of the two foxes, her fur was more of an orange brown.  
"I'm Ninjara, her older sister" stated the older looking of the two foxes in a more serious tone, her fur was more of a darker brown.  
"And I'm Chompy!" exclaimed the turtle, the youngest looking of them all.  
They all seemed like they were teenagers, Chompy being the youngest. Sam guessed that maybe she was about 13.  
"I'm Samantha, but please call me Sam. Tell me what you need me to do and I'll do everything in my power to make them happen."  
Sally then took charge once again. "On the 12th floor is a laboratory. In there is a last resort security system. If you can hack into it, it will set off a smoke system that is set up throughout the entire building. The toxin isn't deadly, but it will paralyze anyone in the building for a following 24 hours. The chemicals used to make the toxin allow it to stay in the building for a full hour before fully dispersing and losing its effect. With that amount of time, we can all try to escape, and then we won't have to feel pain or inflict it on anyone ever again."  
"Wait, I'm sure Shredder planted some sort of tracking device into all of your bodies, how will you take care of that?"  
"That alligator you helped knock out earlier, his name is Leatherhead. He's a genius and even told me that if got a hold of the device that was used to put the trackers into our skin, then he could get them out. He just needs to be somewhere without security cameras."  
"Sorry about that, what we did to your friend…" Sam replied.  
Sally put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "I understand now that you didn't mean to do it, and I'm sorry that you had to see him that way. He's one of the sweetest people I've ever met, but Shredder is able to mess with his mind and make him go berserk."  
"We're going to put an end to that" Sam reassured. "Is there anything I can say to your companions so that they know to leave the building and to stop hurting my friends?"  
"Tell them that it's Mutanimals orders. Hopefully that should calm them down."  
"Understood. Let's do this!"  
All the girls in the room nodded with huge smiles on their faces, hoping that maybe this was the day they could all make their escape.

All of the girls scattered and ran down different hallways, looking for the other Mutanimals so that they could inform them of their current plan.  
Sam ran from hallway to hallway until in a hallway on the 11th floor she spotted all four of her turtle friends surrounded by a variety of larger mutants. One was a giant brown male wolf, one was an older looking tan female cougar, two were older looking female turtles, one was a larger male turtle, and the final mutant was Leatherhead, the giant alligator from earlier. These larger mutants had the turtles held up in corner of the hallway.  
Sam then felt to set of hands grab each of her arms. "Look Titian, we found the final one!"  
"Good job Bramante!" The two were both teenage looking male turtles.  
"Let me go!" Sam shouted.  
Mikey then heard the shouts from his best friend, and without thinking tried to run over towards her.  
"SAM!" but that fast he was grabbed by the throat of the large male turtle and shoved against the wall.  
"Stop it! MUTANIMALS ORDERS!" Sam shouted.

All the foreign mutants stopped and looked at her.  
"What did you say?" the alligator asked.  
"You're Leatherhead right? Sally said you're one of the sweetest guys she's ever met, then prove it."  
The gator paused, and motioned for everyone to back off some. Mikey shoved through the large turtles grasp once it was loosened and he rushed over to Sam. "What happened? What did they do to you? Did they do that?!" he exclaimed as he looked at her knees.  
"Ummm yes and no, but that's not the point! Look, we're all on the same side."  
"What?!" Donnie exclaimed. "Did you not see that one GRAB ME BY THE FACE?!"  
"That's not him, Shredder has all these guys brainwashed to do whatever her wants them to. But if we can get to the next floor up, there's a smoke system we can hack into and let them all go free."  
"She's telling the truth!" came a voice from down the hall. An orange and white Akita Inu mutant dog appeared from a stair well. "I just got word from Sprinkles, they're on our side, and we're all on the same side now!"

All the foreign mutants backed off and started running down towards where the mutant dog was standing.  
The gator faced the turtles. "I'm sorry for the harm I have caused you all, I assure you I didn't do it on my own free will. If you all help us in escaping, I promise you we will all find a way to pay you back somehow."  
Leo was confused, but things seemed much more peaceful now, so he decided to roll with it.  
"Right…Sam. Explain what's going on."  
"I'll explain as we go, you coming with us?" she asked the gator.  
He shook his head. "I already have the device I need hidden somewhere else. This is where we say goodbye, for now that is. Thank you again" he said as he ran off in the same direction as the other mutants.  
Sam looked at the turtles who were all looking at her quizzically. "Don't worry, I'll explain as we go."

The turtles followed Sam to the laboratory on the 12th floor as she explained what had happened after she was kidnapped. The turtles were still a bit on edge, since they had yet to see even a smile from any of the mutants that they had met so far, but instantly they all backed off once Sam had joined back up with them, so for the time being they decided that it was best to roll along with this plan.  
Luckily by this time, most to all of the Foot soldiers had left the building, so reaching the lab was a piece of cake, and Sam and Donnie were able to quickly tamper with and set a timer so that within ten minutes the smoke system would go off.  
"I don't get it, if no one is even here, why are we setting off this system?" Raph asked while keeping a lookout."  
"One, in case there's anyone hiding and trying to plan a surprise attack anywhere throughout the building. Two, because then no one can come back and try to track the Mutanimals. They'll have more time for their escape this way" Donnie replied.  
"And why are we trying to help them? They did nothing but fight us!"  
"Because they were forced to do so, and one of them looks even younger than you guys" Sam replied.  
Raph remained silent as he let her comments sink in. He let his anger subside so that he could focus on the facts rather than his anger. He knew that Shredder was a messed up human being and Raph didn't even want to think of what the other mutants had gone through while being here. He calmed himself and nodded at Sam's words, realizing that the Mutanimals weren't his enemy, Shredder was, and helping the others escape would really mess with Shredder's plans of creating a mutant army.

Once Donnie and Sam got the system set up, they all had about ten minutes until the smoke system would go off. The dashed to the roof and reached their destination with an extra five minutes left to escape from the rooftop. Usually this wouldn't be a big deal, but the turtles weren't sure how they were going to escape now that Sam was with them. The brothers had been practicing escape exercises on multiple different buildings throughout the city so that they could be prepared for any situation where they needed to make a quick getaway, but this also involved them using all of their body when coming in for a landing. They would slide down buildings on their backs and would even use their shells to protect them if they needed to crash through anything hard or sharp. Also, depending on how they would land, sometimes it was safest for them to roll or slide when making the landing, and none of this could be done if one of the turtles needed to carry Sam. The original plan was to make their way over to the parking garage that was located to the right of the building, but it was too great of a distance this time. If the turtles needed to climb or just leap over or even down, say into a sewer opening down below, then it wouldn't be such a big deal to carry Sam, but this time was different.  
As they all reached the top of the roof, Leo began to worry.  
"Hey, you're heading that way, right?" Sam asked as she pointed towards the garage.  
Leo nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know how we're going to get everyone over there."  
"I can swing each of us over there, but I don't know how to get Sam over there safely. The garage only has ten floors whereas this building has fifteen, so I'm not sure how to safely get us all over there together" Donnie thought aloud.  
None of the turtles noticed that Sam and Mikey had backed up some and were whispering to each other.  
"Alright just like we've practiced. You aim for the highest object you can hook onto, so that rail right there" he said as he pointed down to the top of the parking garage where there was a handrail along the ledge of the top of the building, "and hook onto that as you board down. Keep a wide distance though so that you have enough room to swing in. You think you can handle this?" Mikey asked, a mix of excitement and worry in his voice.  
"Don't worry, I got this. Like you said, I've practiced this tons of times."  
"More like three times, but you landed everything perfectly when you did this at the other locations, so hopefully everything will be okay." He didn't realize his hand was shaking as he spoke, but Sam did.  
She nudged him and gave him a playful smile. "Hey, I'm the adrenaline junky, remember? This is what I'm good at, and this stunt is just something else I'll be able to add to my resume."  
"Guys, only two minutes left!" Donnie called out.  
"Whelp, see you on the other side" Sam said as she ran forward.  
Raph, Leo and Donnie instantly picked up on this as their eyes widened.  
"Wait wait wait!"  
"Sam no!"  
"Stop!"  
But Sam had already leaped off the ledge of the building. The three boy's jaws dropped as they wanted to look away, but at the same time they prayed that she would somehow magically land safely on the building down below. None of them (except for Mikey of course) expected to see what they saw.  
Before Sam had made her leap, she had placed a grappling hook gun that she had retrieved from her backpack into her right hand, and she had pulled out her skateboard rod and held that in her left hand. Right after she had made her leap, Sam extended her board and brought it to her feet, which set off the rockets and allowed her to gain better control of where she went as she fell down. Soon after, she aimed and shot the hook from the grappling gun at the handrail and was able to hook it onto the rail. Once she fell far enough down, the pull from the hook and rope forced her to swing inwards, releasing the hook and quickly bringing it back to the gun as Sam then used her board to guide her body into the opening of the 8th of 10 floors of the parking garage.  
"Alright she's in! Let's go!" Leo called out.  
Donnie stood on the ledge of the taller building. First he used his bo staff to help swing Leo and then Raph towards the direction they needed to go. After Raph had gone, Mikey then ran forward and jumped off the ledge onto his skateboard with Donnie jumping behind him. Donnie accelerated downward quickly so that Mikey could then swing him towards the direction they needed to go. Leo and Raph had fallen and grabbed onto the handrail, and then Donnie and Mikey caught up with them seconds later. They all then carefully lowered themselves down two more floors until they were able to swing themselves into the opening of the 8th floor of the parking garage. There, they found a calm and collected Sam who was leaning against one of the pillars nearest to where they had all swung into the room.  
"Took you guys long enough."  
"Heh, hey Don, looks like we found that grappling gun you've been looking for" Raph teased as he lightly nudged his brothers arm.  
"Yeah the thing about that though is that I've been looking for it for a few weeks now" Donnie said as he crossed his arms and looked at Sam and Mikey sternly.  
"Oh, this? Mikey have you ever seen this before?" Sam asked Mikey, holding up the grappling gun.  
"This thing? Naw, never seen it before in my life"  
"Me either, wonder how it got here."  
"I don't know, life's crazy man."  
"Strange things happen, am I right?"  
"Totally, because I've never seen that thing before EVER!"  
"Same here, haha!"  
"Hahaha!"  
The two conversed quickly, but they could easily tell the remaining brother's didn't buy it at all.  
"Mikey" Leo said with a solid blank expression as he crossed his arms.  
"Yeah."  
"I'm gonna kick your ass when we get home."  
"IN MY DEFENSE!...Sam just saved all of us since she was able to transport herself from one building to the other thanks to this here device…that I have never seen before…"  
"He's right" Donnie agreed, hating the feel of defeat in knowing that Mikey's statement was true.  
"Doesn't hide the fact that you both have been sneaking around behind me and our families back" Leo said sternly as he glared at them both.  
"He's right" Donnie said, nodding his head.  
"And one wrong move and you easily could have killed yourself" Raph said in an angry tone.  
"They're both right" Donnie said in a serious tone.

Just then, about thirty Foot soldiers came rushing up the roadway that led to the floor of the parking garage.  
"They've been waiting for us" Leo stated. "Alright guys, get ready for one last fight."  
All five of them got their weapons out and dispersed themselves amongst the group of soldiers. About twenty of the men were actual Foot soldiers, and the other ten were Purple Dragons members.  
Sam ran over and stood back to back with Donnie. "You got a smoke bomb of any kind?!" Sam shouted against the loudness of all the commotion from the fight.  
"Back pouch!" he said as he swung his bo and hit a soldier in the side, as he then brought it down onto the man's head, knocking him out.  
"Dude there's like five back pouches!" she said as she ducked, swung her foot by the leg of the soldier in front of her and knocked him off his balance as she then brought her knee up and kneed him in the back of the head.  
"Far right, my right!"  
Sam grabbed the pouch and ran and hid behind some parked cars. She noticed that the group of ten men had split up into five and were waiting to get better aims of the turtles while the ninjas were currently fighting them. She launched one of the smoke bombs over towards where the one group was setting up. Tons of coughs could be heard as the men were consumed by the thick smoke. As quickly as she could, Sam ran in and used her tonfa to fight the men and knock them out before they could even see her through the smoke. Everything went according to plan until one of them unpredictably pulled a small hand held bomb from their pocket. Sam knocked it out of the soldier's hand, but he had kept a grip on long enough for it to stay in his hand until he was at an angle where it was launched up into the air and hit the ceiling. The smoke was still so thick that Sam couldn't see which part of the ceiling had been hit and where the debris was going to fall. Suddenly, she felt someone shove her to the side. She slid out of the smoke, scrapping up her arms some since it wasn't a planned slide. She turned over to see what had happened and her eyes became glassy as she recognized Donatello laying on the ground with debris from the ceiling all around and on top of him. There were thick chunks of concrete all around and on top of his head.  
Sam was so focused on what she was staring at that she hadn't realized Leo had run over to her and had grabbed her arm and pulled her up.  
"Sam, he'll be fine. He's endured this before. Sam!"  
But Sam was so caught up in her thoughts that she couldn't hear a thing that Leo was saying. She was pissed at herself, at Shredder and his goons, at life for stealing yet another important person from her life. Sam's eyebrows slanted and squeezed together as she gritted her teeth together and clenched her fists. Leo had never seen the girl this way, and he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to control her at this point, not while he also had to go back and help his brother's. Sam was so furious that she yanked her arm away from Leo and started walking back towards where Donnie was lying.  
"Sam, dammit" Leo growled as he turned back, knowing that he needed to help his brothers who were still fighting multiple Foot soldiers.

 **Theme:  
Bishop Briggs-River**

Sam walked forward towards Donnie's body. She heard footsteps quickly coming up behind her. She turned and ran towards the man following her. She quickly used her tonfa to push his arms up and knee him in the stomach as she then threw him over her shoulder. As she did this, she grabbed the handgun from the man's hands and then quickly turned towards the other four gunmen who were following the previous man. She quickly shot at all the men's knees as they stumbled to the floor. Two of them tried to shoot at her even while they were on the ground, to which Sam ran up and kicked the guns out of the two men's hands. She then saw two Foot soldiers running over towards Donnie. Sam was out of bullets, so she threw a couple of shuriken starts at them. This stopped them both long enough for her to dash over to them and start fighting them. Every punch they threw she deflected, and she waited for the perfect moment to attack. She finally got her chance when she used her tonfa to knock the weapons out of the hands of the man to her right. She then swung her left leg up as the soldier grabbed it, but before he could do anything, as he held her left leg (assuming he was deflecting an attack) Sam quickly twirled her body around so that her right leg swung up and her foot smacked him across the face. The soldier fell onto his companion and they both tumbled down. As the second man tried to stand back up, Sam karate kicked him in the face, and the man fell flat on his face and both stayed down permanently.

"I TAUGHT HER ALL THAT!" Mikey exclaimed.  
Sam turned to see that the other three had taken care of all the other soldiers and that now all the current enemies had been knocked unconscious.  
"Ughhh…" came a voice from the debris pile.  
Sam turned around to see Donnie slowly trying to stand up. He had a few scrapes along his arms, but the main injury seemed to be a bloody nose.  
"Whoa man, take it easy" Raph said as he quickly walked over to his brother. He carefully helped stand Donnie up, letting his younger brother take his time until her was able to use his own strength and push off of Raph's arm and stand after catching his balance.  
"Thanks" Donnie said with a small smile as he reached into one of the many small pouches running down his chest and pulled out some tissues.  
"Any serious pain? Anything hit you the wrong way?" Leo asked.  
"Heh, just the floor, ironically. Once I got Sam out of the way, I was so focused on shielding myself from falling debris that I hadn't done anything to block my face from the floor, so when the debris came crashing down I face planted hard. Besides that I think I'm good" he said as he stuck some tissues up his nostrils to help stop the bleeding.  
"As long as a headache or a nose bleed is the most pain you feel then you should be fine, at least that's how I was when this happened to me" Raph reassured.  
"Damnnnn Daniel, back at it again with the dope swag!" Mikey shouted.  
"Heh, you know that's not the saying, right?"  
"Well it's not my fault you're not wearing Vans" Mikey shrugged as the two laughed.  
Donnie's laughter died down as he realized why he was injured in the first place. "What happened to Sam?"  
The four brothers turned around to see that Sam hadn't moved. They didn't know it, but Sam was mentally cussing herself out. She was extremely grateful that Donnie was alright, but she hated herself for even putting him in that situation. For years Sam had always been able to defend and take care of herself, but this time she slipped up and she put her new friend in danger. She would never do it, but she wanted to bash her head against the wall for acting so carelessly. How was she supposed to face him after he had just risked his life for her? He could have died! She wouldn't be surprised if all the turtles hated her even more now, and she wouldn't blame them. If they all told her to disappear and to never cross paths with them again then she would have obeyed, she would do whatever she needed to in order for them to feel that their lives were safer, and if that meant her never getting to see the turtles again then so be it. Their safety and well-being meant more to her than anything else in the world, besides Jay's safety and well-being that is.  
Sam was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't realized Donnie had walked up and now stood in front of her.  
"Soooo this is the part where you say 'thanks for saving me from the falling debris that would have crushed me Donatello'," he said both comically yet also seriously.  
Sam just looked up and stared at him. "Your face is bleeding…" she said bluntly.  
"You're welcome Sam" he replied with raised eyebrows as he pursed his lips together in annoyance.  
"You got hurt because of me…" Sam said, her voice cracking a bit.  
As Donnie now noticed her glassy eyes, he realized why she hadn't apologized. It's not that she wasn't grateful for what he had done, it was because she didn't think she deserved to even speak to him. He could tell that she was mentally torturing herself with her thoughts.  
He smiled at her and pointed towards his nose. "This? This is nothing. Ever since Raph's incident awhile back when our first home was attacked, we train for things like this now."  
"HA" Raph stated sarcastically.  
Sam smiled at this, which made Donnie cheer up as well. "Besides, I owed you from earlier" he said as he lightly nudged her shoulder.  
"Ahhh that's right. Thank you for being ten times stronger and tougher than you look" Sam said as she smiled and nodded her head.  
And that was all the 'thanks' that Donnie needed. He knew that the comical changes in both her voice and facial expressions showed that she was back to normal, and this meant that even though she didn't exactly say 'thank you,' she already knew how important his actions had been, hence why she was afraid to even talk to him. In an odd way, Donnie knew her well enough at this point to know that this change in emotion showed how thankful she truly was.  
"Alright, let's round all these guys up, I'm sure the cops will be here soon" Leo stated.  
The five of them moved all the soldiers into one big mosh pile of people. Once they were done they all began to walk down the roadway of the parking garage.  
"There's a manhole cover in the alley right behind the garage, we'll just use that one for today since the cops will probably be here soon and it will be easier to escape through the sewers rather than trying to find another roof top, since oddly this building is shorter than the others surrounding it" Donnie stated as he led the way out of the garage.  
"Hehe, so what's this about you getting picked up by that large gator?" Raph teased as he threw his arm around his brother's shoulder.  
"Please don't make me talk about it" Donnie groaned.  
"LAMEEEEEE! Come on, tell us!" Mikey chimed in.  
"What's so exciting about hearing me talk about getting grabbed by the face?"  
"It's not exciting, it just sounds hilarious" Raph mocked as Mikey laughed and Donnie rolled his eyes.  
"Alright I'll talk, after Mikey describes what it was like to be grabbed by the throat and then shoved against the wall" Donnie said as he smirked at his younger brother.  
"Okay if your experience was the same then I feel you bro! That scared the hell out of me!"  
"SEE! Not so funny, is it?"  
"Oh no, the throat is scary…but the face is still hilarious" Raph teased.

As the younger three teased each other, Sam hung back to talk to Leo, away from the others. She laughed when she saw Leo smile and roll his eyes at his younger brothers.  
"Yup, definitely another Jay" she said with a smile.  
"What exactly does that mean again?"  
"That as much as you yell and scream at your younger siblings it just means that you actually really care about them, and even if you roll your eyes at them all the time, it's your way of showing you're happy that they're around, that's how my older brother Jay is."  
"Ahhhh got it, but why else would I yell at them?"  
"I dunno, to be an ass?" she teased.  
"Eh, maybe sometimes if they really annoy me, but the majority of the time no, I'm not always an ass, at least not on purpose."  
"Huh, oldest brother like second oldest brother."  
"You called Raph an ass?" Leo asked in laughter.  
"Well, more so he called your brother one, and then I laughed at him for the fact that he could say that about someone else."  
"Which brother?"  
"Donnie, about rubbing it in at times that he's the tallest."  
"Oh yeah he does that a lot, but hey that's the payback Raph and Mikey get for teasing him all the time about being the thinnest" he chuckled. "I guess Nick is another one of your brothers?"  
"Yeah, he's the oldest of my blood siblings. He cared about all eight of us like crazy, but he could be a real hot head at times. He's the type who always has to have the last word and will mumble things under his breath and can never let the conversation die out even when everyone knows that it's time to juts let things go."  
"Ohhhh then Raph is definitely another Nick" he laughed.  
Sam laughed, imagining Raph and Nick fighting over something silly and how crazy it would be to see the two butt heads. Now that all earlier tensions had been dropped, Sam thought it was a good time to apologize for the argument the two had had earlier.  
"Sorry about sneaking around behind your back, I'm still getting used to this whole getting to know people and earning their trust kind of thing."  
"I'm the same way, we all are, well except Mikey. He's always been the most trusting and joyfully energetic of us four. Anyway, sorry if there's times where you still feel like an outsider, if it means anything, we're all used to seeing you around the lair now and it's pretty much become a part of all our daily routines now."  
"Thanks" Sam said as she failed at concealing her wide teething bearing smile, "That means a lot."  
"Out of curiosity, why were you two so gung-ho to form a crime fighting duo anyway?"  
"Well, it's a long story-"  
"Broken family related?" he asked with sorrow in his voice as he faced her.  
She nodded. "Yeah, completely related to that. Basically, thanks to the cards life has dealt me, I haven't exactly grown up as a normal kid would, so I never really had close friends and got excited by things normal teens do. Everyone likes things like going to the mall and going on trips with their friends, stuff like that, but I haven't exactly been interested in those type of activities for a long time now. Because of how my life has played out, I'm more interested in adrenaline filled activities, something that has a purpose or something that will be life changing, if any of that makes sense. That's the best way I can really explain it."  
"Well, I can't relate to you about having a broken family, but I can relate to you on the whole 'my life has been dealt weird and unique playing cards, so I'm not interested in normal activities and would rather do something different than normal people' type situation. But there is a major difference in our situations though."  
"Let me guess, the whole you're a 6 ft. mutant turtle and I'm just a 5'5 human girl thing?" she said with a teasing smile.  
"As skilled as you are, there are still things that you can't handle. A perfect example being when Donnie pushed you out of the way of the falling solid concrete pieces. Being more muscular and also having tougher skin, the impact didn't hurt him as much, whereas that debris easily could have injured, or worse, it could have killed you."  
"Awww you sound so concerned" she mocked.  
"Well who else is going to teach me how to cook?" he said bluntly, though it was obviously known he was joking.  
"Ohh, so that's it. Gotta remember that the next time I meet someone who doesn't like me. If I teach them how to do more than just make themselves a bowl of cereal then they'll want me around."  
"Shut up" Leo said as he rolled his eyes and Sam laughed.  
"Well, I gotta say, I'm glad this was my final ninja mission, I think I kicked the most ass tonight than ever before" Sam said as she brushed her hands off her shoulders.  
Leo gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about?"  
"You're pissed that I brought Mikey here just the two of us, and I'm also the reason that Donnie got hurt, so I'm pretty sure you don't want me joining you guys anymore on missions like this. I totally understand though, I don't want to do anything that will continue to put you guys at risk of getting hurt."  
"Awwww you sound so concerned" Leo said, mocking what the girl had just recently said.  
She gave him an annoyed smile as she fake laughed at him. Leo smiled at the girl's playful expression.  
"In all honesty, you had our backs in ways I wasn't expecting, hard to believe Mikey could actually successfully train someone. But you had our backs back there, I can't deny that."  
Sam stopped and gave him a funny look. "Where is this going?"  
"I'm saying that if you listen to instructions, then maybe you can join us in training outside of the dojo. But you have to STOP GOING BEHIND OUR BACKS! And if you ever join us in another fight, you have to listen to us when we tell you to hide or whatever it is that we're telling you to do. It's not because we're trying to cast you out, it's because we're trying to help keep you safe."  
"Really?"  
"Of course we want you to be safe!"  
"Not that!" Sam replied as she rolled her eyes. "I meant 'really,' you'd let me go help save the city with you guys? Or are you saying that because 'you don't have any other choice?" she said in a mocking tone.  
Leo playfully glared at her. "You would remember that. Well, you stuck around long enough to the point where we don't really hate you anymore-"  
"What a great way to tell someone you care about them" she said with a wide teeth showing sarcastic smile.  
"AS I WAS SAYING, you've been hanging around all of us for a while now to the point where I feel like we could trust you during a fight, so as your brother I'm giving you a chance to fight with us if you're-"  
"What did you say you were?" Sam asked. Her face expressed a mix of shock and confusion combined into one.  
"I said I was your friend, why?" he answered, confusion written on his face as well.  
"No reason, go on" she said quickly.  
"…okay, I was saying that as your friend I'm giving you a chance to fight alongside us as long as you're willing to listen to directions when it comes to safety precautions, since as much as you want to fight like us, there's things you can't do because you're not us."  
"Not like you guys…" Sam instantly went into deep thought, all the wheels in her head turning.  
"What are you thinking?" Leo groaned.  
"Definitely not something that will help me fight like you guys" she said, her words and expression full of sarcasm.  
By this time, the two were now rounding the corner of the entrance of the garage on the ground floor. They started walking towards the back alley when Mikey came running up to them.  
"SAM! Donnie was able to download an early cut of Guardians of the Galaxy!"  
"Donnie's got footage of my boy Groot?"  
"He has footage of all the galaxy saving misfits. ALL. OF. THEM."  
"LEAD ME TO THE NEAREST T.V.!"

The two then lifted the man-hole cover, jumped down into the sewers, and rode their boards all the way back to the lair, while the other three brothers took their time and walked back. While Sam rode back to the lair, she kept thinking of Leo's words that continued to linger on her mind. Even though he accidentally called himself her brother, she had a feeling that that was how he was truly beginning to see himself since he was always complaining when she and Mikey did something that he deemed unsafe. She thought back to how they all had treated her that night and how each of them displayed various different traits that reminded her of Chuck, Nick, Brian and Jay. She then thought of how Splinter displayed many traits that her parents and older siblings used to, and how April also displayed many traits that were similar to those of her mother and her older sisters: Haley, Amber, and Jamie. For the first time in a long time, it felt like a large part of her life had been given back to her, and she felt truly happy to feel like her family had come back and joined her in her daily life once again. Obviously this situation was still very different from how her life used to be, but she loved what her life had recently turned into, and she prayed that nothing would ever change.


	16. Chapter 16

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

 **Also, to the guest who commented on me not disappearing and all, don't worry. Sadly some weeks it takes me a bit longer than others to complete and submit chapters, but I don't plan on permanently disappearing. I'm taking my own personal break from my schooling this semester and the summer is coming up soon, so I hope to get as much typed up as I possibly can, and even when school starts I'm not giving up on this story, but sadly it might take me longer to get chapters uploaded. But I still have so much written down and planned out for this story, so don't worry, I'm not going anywhere**

Chapter #16

 ***The next night, Friday June 13** **th** *****

"Whoa! What was that?!" Mikey shouted.  
"I don't know, it looks like a metal tiger, but man that thing is creepy" Sam said as she looked up at the t.v. screen for a few seconds before looking back down at her notepad.  
The two were sitting on the couch together. While Mikey was breaking in his new copy of Wolfenstein the New Order, Sam was sketching and jotting down notes and ideas about a new device that she wanted to work on.  
"According to Fergus it's called a Hell Beast. Why aren't you playing again?" he asked while still facing the screen, absorbed in the game.  
"Because I'm distracted."  
"Aren't video games supposed to be the distracting activity?"  
"Usually yes, but my mind is already wrapped up in something else, and once I reach a certain level of progress, then I can play. It's like my own mental homework" she said with a smile.  
"So what's the assignment teach?"  
"To find a way to be as strong as you guys without actually being as strong as you guys."  
"Can you explain that in English?"  
"I'll try" she said with a laugh. "Obviously I can never actually be as physically strong as you and your brothers. Even if I became one of those super female body builders, there's certain things that you guys both as mutants and as turtles can withstand that I as a regular human being cannot. Exhibit A. being what happened the other night."  
"You mean when Donnie totally saved your ass?" he teased.  
"Psh, of course everyone saw him save me, but no one was around when I saved him. But yes I'm talking about that situation."  
"How are your knees?" he asked, actually peeling his face away from the screen to show his concern.  
"Don't worry, it's nothing more than some cuts and bruises" she reassured.  
Mikey smiled and went back to playing his game.  
"Anyway," Sam continued, "the point is, there's nothing that I alone as a human being can do to obtain the same skills that you guys have, but if I'm successful in building this device, then maybe I can be a little more helpful than before."  
"But you're already helpful" he said with sincerity, and out of the corner of his eye he could see a smile creeping up on his friend's face.  
"Thanks, but there's always room for improvement."  
"So what exactly is this new device?"  
"Pause the game and I'll show you."  
Mikey paused the game and leaned over to look at his friend's notepad. "A glove? That's it?"  
"Not just any type of glove" Sam said as she rolled her eyes, "it would be electronic. If I can create a perfect design and can find the right materials, I can use a tube within the glove to produce huge gusts of wind that could deflect or even move objects."  
"Dude, that sounds awesome! But how would that even work?" Mikey asked in excitement.  
"Well, I would need some strong metal to form the sleeve, and I'd have to find a way to make it powerful enough to work. I might be able to program something more so with the wiring that if I throw a punch the battery then intensifies how much wind is pushed forward. I'd have to play around with different concepts to see what would and wouldn't work."  
"I guess you'll be really busy then…" Mikey pouted.  
"Yeah and so will you" she responded, her face back in her notebook.  
"What?" he asked as he faced her, shock exposed in his expression.  
"Well I'm already working with you on fixing up our underground spaces, and I'm helping Donnie with the med wing and with the truck AND he's helping me with the other vehicle that we don't name out loud so the secret isn't exposed. Basically I have a ton of projects that I'm already working on, so I'm going to need my best friend to help me out so that I can get this job done quicker" she said as she put her fist out for a fist bump.  
Mikey returned the gesture with a huge smile forming on his face. He loved that no matter what Sam did, she always found a way to include him IF he was interested, which the majority of the time he was since everything Sam did was usually either super cool or super fun. It was more so the things she did with his other brothers, like working out with Raph or meditating with Leo, where they went their separate ways for a bit and then eventually met back up to hangout again later. He really enjoyed the friendship they had formed over the past few months and not once did he ever regret meeting back up with her the night that they first met.

The two stayed the way they were on the couch for a while longer before Raph and Leo came over and joined them on the couch.  
"Alright Mikey, save your game now or I'm pulling the plug" Raph stated.  
"Aww c'mon bro! It's up to me whether Fergus or Wyatt dies right now!"  
"5 minutes!"  
"Okay, okay, okay!"  
Sam chuckled and looked up at Raph. "Why the rush?"  
"The Knicks game is gonna be on t.v. soon and I'm not missing it. We missed the last game because there was a call on the police scanner about a robbery and we had to go take care of the huge group of idiots who decided to rob stores in the mall."  
Sam gave him a confused look. "Wait, so you guys watch the game here?"  
Raph and Leo gave each other a funny look. "Yeah…why?" Leo asked.  
"I just assumed you guys watched from a cooler spot, you know, being ninjas in the shadows and all" she teased.  
Leo narrowed his eyes at her. "Please, enlighten us as the where a much cooler spot would be."  
"Ohhhh the super totally awesome cool spot? You're talking about THAT spot, right" Mikey asked.  
"That one" she replied as she snapped and pointed her fingers at him.  
Mikey had finished saving his spot in the game and stood up once he got everything settled. "Leo we should totally go to Sam's spot! It's way better than watching the game on the couch I swear!"  
Leo looked back at Raph. The two shrugged at each other and looked back at Mikey.  
"Eh, why not" said Leo.  
"Seriously?" Sam asked in surprise.  
"Well, we do kind of owe you a thanks for saving our younger brother yesterday" Leo said.  
"Heh, but you can go have the fun of breaking him away from his nerd lab" Raph teased.  
"Psh, that's easy." Sam walked over towards Donnie's lab and within thirty seconds he was walking through the door and over towards his brothers.  
"Hey guys, where we going?"  
The eldest two brothers both threw their hands up.  
"Aw come on!" Raph shouted.  
"How'd you do that?" Leo asked loudly.  
"I got connections to modern technology thanks to my brother and his nerd friends" Sam said as she gave the boy's two thumbs up.  
"Figures" they both mumbled under their breath.  
"Guys the game starts soon so let's gooooooooo!" Mikey shouted halfway down the hallway through the lair exit nearest to the t.v.  
"Um, we're going to the Knick's game?" Donnie asked in confusion.  
"Apparently Sam knows of this 'super totally awesome cool' spot" Raph said, mocking how his youngest brother made it sound.  
Mikey heard all of this of course, even though he was standing so far away. "You can mock me all you want but you're going to flip when you see it!"  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

The group then followed Sam as they left through the exit of the lair that was closest to the t.v. and the rest of the living room area. While they all talked and joked around as they walked throughout different pathways of the sewers, Donnie was curious as to where Sam was leading all of them, so he used a small handheld GPS system to track where they were as they all walked and talked. Once they arrived at their destination, Donnie decided it was time to speak up.  
"Okay, I'm not heading any further until I get an explanation."  
Sam turned towards him and gave him a fake smile. "What's the problem now?"  
"Do you realize where we are?"  
"Yeah."  
"Where are we?"  
"Close to Madison Square Garden's Arena" she said with an innocent smile.  
"Yay!" Mikey cheered.  
"No not yay," Leo cut in, "you know we can't go the actual arena."  
"Dude, where else can you get a better view of the game than from the actual arena?" Mikey asked.  
"I assumed maybe there was a place where they broadcasted the game on a larger screen, like near a park or something where we could still hide."  
"If you would trust me then you'd know that you can still hide at the spot that I'm taking you to" Sam stated as she rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid, I wouldn't bring you guys here if you wouldn't be able to hide and stay unseen."  
Raph sighed. "We're trusting you on this one kid, so don't screw it up" he said as he flicked her forehead.  
She stood there and pursed her lips together. "Gee Raph, I've never heard words of encouragement quite like yours."  
"Let's go!" he shouted.  
"Okay, so here are the ground rules. When you reach the surface, move quickly and whoeverreachesthetopfirstwins!" she shouted with one breath as she swiftly pulled her board out, Mikey doing the same with his board, and the two rocketed off towards the surface. Mikey pushed open the manhole cover and within seconds the two were out of sight.  
"*sigh* why did we agree to go with them again?" Raph asked.  
"Because we're proving we trust her…and we owe her for helping save Donnie" Leo muttered under his breath as he started climbing up the ladder to the surface.  
"Ahh, so this is all Donnie's fault. You just needed to be saved, didn't you?" Raph teased as he followed his brother up to the surface.  
"HE GRABBED ME BY THE FACE! So yes I needed saving!" Donnie called out as he then climbed up.  
When the three got to the surface, they realized they were in an alley behind a tall apartment building. They each quickly swung themselves up higher and higher along the railways along the side of the building.  
Sam and Mikey were standing there, pretending to look bored.  
"Took you long enough" Mikey mocked as Sam nodded beside him.  
Leo looked around and saw that they were on top of an apartment building that was a bit taller and wasn't that far away in distance from the top of the arena. He then paused as he realized that the distance didn't seem that far away FOR HIM to run and leap onto the arena's roof, but there's no way that Sam could have made that jump, even for her.  
"Don't worry Fearless, I only recently started sneaking in this way" she said.  
"Wait, how did you know-"  
"There's this thing called facial expressions, and yours are extremely obvious and totally give away what you're thinking" she smirked.  
"So what was your old method?"  
"Fake I.D.'s that said I was backstage staff."  
"Backstage?" Raph asked. "Isn't that term used for concerts?"  
"Yeah, why else would I come here?" She asked.  
"To watch the basketball game, you know, the reason we're here now."  
Sam stopped and stared at him. "Oh hey, funny thing, I don't know shit about basketball."  
"WHAT?!" the three oldest brothers shouted.  
"Why are you even here then?" Raph asked.  
Sam then pulled on Mikey' arm so that he was now standing in a tilted stance. He smiled while Sam gave Raph a look that said 'duh.'  
"We're moving!" Donnie shouted.  
Leo and Donnie ran across the rooftop and leaped and rolled onto the rooftop of the arena. Raph soon followed with Mikey and Sam running and then leaping onto their boards which they used to travel down onto the rooftop. Mikey then lead the way as he ran over and opened up a curved vent.  
"Come on guys! We're going to miss the beginning of the game!"  
Sam took the lead as she ran forward and leaped into the opening with Mikey right behind her, and then the rest of the brothers behind him. Leo, Raph, and Donnie looked around at the room they were in. They were surrounded by metal beams above them, and tons of different grated walkways below them. They looked forward to see Sam and Mikey racing forward along the walkways until the two jumped and as they traveled downwards, the two vanished. The three brothers then ran after them and stopped when they reached the hole that the other two had jumped through. As they looked down, all they could see was the game getting set up down below. It wasn't until the saw Mikey waving his hands that they knew all was alright.  
They each carefully jumped down and their jaws dropped when they realized where they were.  
"Whoaaa!" Donnie shouted.  
"No way!" Leo exclaimed with a smile.  
"The jumbo tron?!" Raph shouted." How did you find out about this?"  
"Sam said she would sneak up here for different concerts, so when I said that I would love to see a basketball game in person, we worked together to figure out how to get us both in here. That's when we found that building we were just at and coordinated how to get from there to here and vice versa."  
"I have to admit, this is pretty incredible" Leo said as he smiled at the duo.  
"THE GAME'S STARTING!" Donnie shouted.

Sam thought it was interesting that all four of the brothers were so absorbed in the game and fans of the sport. She was more so shocked that they were all fans of the exact same sport. She could easily see Raph and Mikey being fans of basketball, but she was a tiny bit surprised that Leo was so engaged as well. He seemed to like working out and at times he would playfully get rough with his brothers, but overall he usually seemed to prefer activities that were much calmer where he was alone, so it was a bit surprising to Sam when Leo was cheering just as loud as his crazy younger two brothers. She was even more shocked to hear Donnie cheering and act more energetic then any of them. Sam knew better than to judge a book by its cover, but Donnie never talked about sports, unless he did so when she just wasn't around. He was always working on a project or jotting things down wherever he could, (there were a few times she caught him writing on the walls because something came to his mind and he had nothing to write on) or playing videogames like the techy nerd that he was, so she found this new behavior of his at the arena both shocking and amusing. She enjoyed seeing all four of the brothers let loose and have fun, especially since she was so used to seeing them act super serious because they were either training or preparing to go on patrol. She was so used to seeing them act so serious and quiet, so she loved seeing them now act so crazy and loud.

Sam looked back to the game and saw one of the players from the Knicks team run up to the 3 point line, dribble and dodge around the opposing player, and shoot the ball. The crowd went wild when the ball swished straight through the net.  
"Sam who's that?" Mikey asked, quizzing the girl.  
She paused for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders.  
"Ughhh Sam! His last name is Smith. Based on where he threw the ball, which Smith is he? And don't tell me you forgot there's two!"  
"Ummmmm, let's see. He took a shot near the 3 point line which means he's probably a shooting guard, so he's…J.R. Smith!" she said, raising her eye brows in hope that she was right.  
"Before I can congratulate you…who's the other Smith and what does he play?" Mikey asked as he crossed him arms.  
Sam closed her eyes as she tried to think of the player she was asked about. "Jason Smith…and he plays on the 5 spot on the diagram… so he plays center."  
"Aye!" the four said, congratulating her.  
"That's my girl!" Mikey said as he pat her on the back. "I knew you could do it."  
Sam laughed. "I never said I couldn't do it, I just said that I have a ton of stuff I'm working on so forgive me if it takes longer than usual for me to pick up facts and stats on the sport."  
"So what kept you away from basketball?" Leo asked.  
"Nothing kept me away, I just never got into it. My parents always watched soccer, so my siblings and I started watching soccer, and then when I was in 5th grade I started playing for the first time and I got hooked, so I started taking it seriously."  
"Well, welcome to the club" Raph said with a smile as he playfully nudged her.

The group of five continued to watch and cheer as the game went on. None of them would ever admit it, but something as simple as watching the game slowly began bringing the group even closer together. This combined with the mix of how Sam had all of their backs the night previous and vice versa really strengthened the trusting bond that each of them was slowly building with Sam. This didn't mean that the oldest three trusted the girl 110% just yet though. In fact, there were still a few things that they wanted to know about her that they had yet to learn about. But because their youngest brother seemed to be learning a lot more about her, specifically her past, much quicker than the rest of them were, they decided to continue using the more peaceful approach and hoped that she would start opening up to them as they also slowly began opening up to her, even though they would never admit it.

 ***Wednesday June 18** **th** **, nighttime in the sewers***

 ***Sam POV***

She couldn't believe it. It had been a little over two weeks but the motorcycle was almost complete. Luckily Donnie had been a huge help, and Mikey had actually been much more helpful than she expected. Mikey enjoyed scavenging for parts that she needed as much as Donnie enjoyed helping put the pieces where they belonged. Now that all the hard work was done, Sam just needed to finish putting a fresh coat of paint on the vehicle so that no one could ever tell that it had been purchased so cheaply and full of dents.  
She was so busy at work that she didn't realize that the other brothers had left the lair until she went to and ask Mikey and Donnie for their opinions on the paint job. When she had walked back from their hiding spot in one of the smaller open areas throughout the sewer and had arrived back at the lair, she was confused when she didn't see anyone but Splinter meditating on the raised circular piece near the living room.

"Hey Sensei, where did everybody go?" she asked as she walked over towards him.  
"Ah Samantha, I didn't realize you were here" he said with a smile on his face.  
"Yeah, I was working on something in another space in the sewer, so technically I was and wasn't here, hehe."  
"I see. You and the boys have all been busy lately. I appreciate you looking after them in ways that only you can."  
She tilted her head to the side. "Huh?"  
He chuckled. "You've been teaching Leonardo to cook, and now even Raphael has been showing interest in the activity. You've given Donatello a lending hand in projects that no one else knows how to help him with. You're able to keep up with the duration of Raphael's workout routines whereas everyone else gets bored of doing the same thing day in and day out, and when the others are occupied or even just want some relaxing time, you enjoy participating in the same activities as Michelangelo."  
Sam rubbed the back of her head. She was embarrassed, but in a good way. "Gee Sensei, I hadn't really noticed any of that."  
He shook his head at her. "Sam, do you really think you can lie like that to a wise old rat?"  
She responded while rocking back and forth on her feet. "Leeeeeetttt's just keep it to ourselves that I've noticed the same things you have, okay? Okay!" she said as she gave him two thumbs up, leading the rat to laugh at her goofiness. "Anyway, did you happen to see where they all went?"  
"Ah, right! There was an alert on the police scanner saying that a gang was robbing an electronics store downtown, so the boys went on their way."  
"WITHOUT ME?!" she shouted.  
"I'm sorry my child, but they didn't know where you were. Well Michelangelo did, but Donatello said that there wasn't time to reach you and that they needed to move quickly in order to catch the robbers."  
"Hmph, well lucky for me I have a new set of wheels" she said as she rubbed her hands together.  
"Should I be concerned?" Splinter asked as he gave the girl a serious look.  
"Don't worry Sensei, it's nothing to worry about. I just have a surprise for Raph that he'll be receiving sooner than expected."

And with that she ran back towards where she was working on the motorcycle, threw on a helmet and elbow and knee pads, and rode away down the alley ways of the sewers.

 ***Turtles POV***

He felt bad about having to leave her behind, but if it meant possibly saving a life or putting a criminal behind bars, then they needed to move fast. Donnie knew where Sam was, and he knew that his younger brother was upset that they couldn't go chase after her, but time was of the essence and they needed to leave now.  
The four brothers quickly gathered whatever they thought they might need and they jumped into the somewhat empty truck that Donnie was still working on and they sped away out of the sewers.

"So what's the situation?" Raph asked as he walked around the back of the van.  
"An electronics store was robbed downtown" Donnie replied.  
"So this shouldn't be too tough then, right?"  
"I'm not sure, since this gang didn't just rob any ordinary electronics store."  
"I don't get it" Mikey chimed in while he sat on a couch against a wall in the van.  
"It's not like this is just an Apple store where it's filled with phones and computers. This building is also used for building and testing new technological devices that can be used for a variety of different situations. They're currently working on a new hand held heart rate monitor, and I'm sure that's what the thieves are aiming to take."  
"Why would they want a heart rate monitor?" Leo asked from the passenger's seat.  
"Devices like that are used by a variety of people. Not only can they help protect athletes from over working themselves, but they can also help weight loss patients maintain regular exercise and a sustainable dietary regimen, and they can also help injury rehabilitation patients recovering from an injury or an illness, or a cardiac incident, ensure that their gradual return to full strength and endurance proceeds safely and steadily. Basically, it can help many people that seriously need to monitor their heart rate by allowing them to constantly check it and make sure that they're alright, and these gang members probably know how expensive they are, especially since this is the latest prototype."

Just as those final words left his lips, they turned down a corner and saw a few cars start speeding away from the electronics store. Donnie put his foot on the gas and tried to catch up to them, trying his best to watch out for any other traffic nearby. Luckily, this store happened to be on a street with more local shops which meant that by this time of night, most were all closed, and the streets around this area were empty.  
"Is it only these two cars?" Raph asked as he walked up and now stood behind the space between the driver and passenger seat.  
"It looks like it" Donnie replied.  
"Alright Leo, let's take these two out" Raph said as he turned his head towards his older brother. Leo smiled and nodded as he stood up.  
"You take care of the car closest to us. Mikey will help me with the one that's further ahead."  
Raph nodded as Leo turned towards Mikey.  
"Alright Mikey, you've been practicing with that dart device, right?"  
"You know it bro! My aim has improved a lot!"  
"I'm going to go get it set up on top the van, so make sure that you're ready to fire, got it?"  
"Let's do this!"  
"That device is in a box on the bottom shelf in the back" Donnie cut in as he nodded his head towards the back of the van.  
"You're good to go Raph, keep your phone on you so we can communicate" Leo said.  
"Don't worry, I got this. Be back soon." Raph said as he made sure his shell cell was safely fastened in the pouch on his chest strap. He then walked towards the back of the van, threw open the doors, and swung himself onto the top of the van. Once he was able to maintain his balance, he ran across the top of the van and leaped off of it and onto the car in front of him. His weight caused the roof of the car to cave in some and made the car swerve a bit. Raph waited another minute or so until the car was close to an alley. He then shoved his arm through the roof and grabbed ahold of the steering wheel, turning the car into the alley where it crashed into a dumpster.

Meanwhile, Leo and Mikey were getting ready for their chance to attack as well. Leo was starting up a device that was about the height of a 29 inch flat screen television, but it was thicker like a microwave. At the front of the device was a nozzle that could be moved with a controller as to where to aim the darts that were inside the device. Donnie had made the device in case they would ever need to attack an enemy from a far off distance (he had been working on it ever since he was a kid, but he could only find so many materials). Leo would get the device in position, and Mikey had been practicing how to use the controller to set up the nozzle in the perfect direction to shoot the darts.  
"You ready?" Leo asked as he turned towards Mikey.  
"Let's do this bro!" Mikey cheered.  
And with that, Leo swung himself up onto the roof of the car the same way Raph recently had. Once he was able to maintain his balance, he called down to Mikey, who then helped swing and toss the device up to Leo on the roof. Leo crouched down and laid on his chest as he slowly crawled forward on the top of the truck, trying to get as close as he could to the front of the vehicle so that the nozzle would have a clear shot when it needed to be fired.  
"Alright Mikey, whenever you're ready" Leo said into his shell cell which was fastened to a holder on his chest strap.  
"Just a few more seconds…" Mikey said as he looked down at the controller. On the controller were a few joy sticks that controlled the direction and things of that such for the nozzle's aim, and also a screen that was connected to a camera on the device that allowed Mikey to see what direction and also what object he would be shooting at. He tried his best to get a clear and solid aim and then *schwoop.* Mikey pressed the button and a dart came flying out from the nozzle and pierced its way into the enemy cars tire. The car swerved some and then crashed into a wall.

Donnie slowed the truck down as they creeped up to where the car had crashed.  
"We need to start picking up the pace guys. I'm sure that someone will have called the cops by now. Let's start tying them up Mikey" Leo said after he had returned to the inside of the car and was now putting the device and its controller back where he had found them.  
"Wait!" Donnie called out. "There's movement behind us!"  
"Wait, what? We took out both cars!" Mikey called as he and Leo both looked out the open back doors.  
"Raph, where are you?" Leo said as he spoke into his shell cell.  
 _"I'm up on a rooftop about a street away from where you are. I see some guys getting onto motorcycles!"  
_ "They must have hid back while we chased their men in the cars, I'm sure those guys are hiding whatever they went to steal" Leo said with a serious and intense tone.  
 _"Wait…whoa no way!"  
_ "Raph what's wrong?"  
 _"Where the hell did she get that?!"  
_ "No way…" Donnie mumbled. "She's not riding it…"  
"WHAT?!" Leo hollered.  
Before anyone could answer him, he heard the revving of the motorcycles from way down the other end of the street. There were three motorcycles driving away from them, but there was one coming down the street that was heading in their direction. He couldn't see the face of the person who was heading in their direction because they had a helmet on, but he knew that body size and the slim yet muscular figure that was riding the bike, that and he had seen the same navy blue form fitting sweat pants and navy blue and maroon sweatshirt earlier that day.  
"How did Sam get that?" Leo groaned.  
"No time to talk! Hold on tight!" Donnie called out as he hit the gas and and made a U-turn as quickly as he could.  
As they sped down the roadway, they saw Sam on her motorcycle as she sped towards the robbers. She grabbed what looked like one of her tonfa from the pocket on the side of the backpack she was wearing and swung in out to hit the driver of the opposing motorcycle head on. One of the other two motorcycles (the driver seemed to have a small suitcase tucked in front of him) turned around and sped down a separate roadway, but the other one still drove towards Sam. This time she would be attacking with her left arm, but in this position it was a bit difficult, especially since she had never driven a motorcycle before and barely knew how to maintain control of the vehicle alone. She knew she wouldn't be able to land a solid hit, so instead she tilted the bike back as both she and it slid forward. She was able to angle the vehicle so that it would slide diagonally some and then collide with the oncoming motorcycle, and as it did, she continued to slide forward. She smiled under her helmet as she mentally thanked herself for wearing the gloves, knee pads, and elbow pads that she was wearing. She didn't care what teasing might come from the others later, right now these protections were really helping her out, even though the slide was still very uncomfortable and put an incredible amount of pressure on her knees and arms.

Once she had come to a complete stop, she heard a thud come from behind her and she quickly turned over, but it was just Raph who had climbed down and leaped off at the midway point of the building behind her.  
"Slick, very slick" he teased as he held his hand out to her.  
"Yeah whatever, I did what I had to…plus that's also all I could really do" she said as she was pulled off the ground.  
"Regardless, it worked" Raph said with a smile as he turned away.  
Sam looked in the same direction that Raph had and to her surprise Leo and Mikey had somehow run past her and were already tying and piling up the robbers they had just stopped.  
"Where's Donnie?" she asked.  
"Chasing the last guy, hopefully the last" Leo responded.  
"Heh, did you have a nice trip?" Mikey asked as he walked back over.  
Sam squinted her eyes at him. "I didn't trip…I thought the ground needed a hug..."  
"And how did that go?"  
"Not well, our relationship is really rocky" she replied as the two laughed at how stupid their jokes were.  
"Guys," Leo cut in, "Donnie said the guy is circling around, so he'll be passing by soon."  
"I'm using the new ride" Raph said as he walked the motorcycle over to where they were standing.  
"Fine. Mikey, Sam, let's go."  
Sam shrugged her shoulders. "Lead the way fearless leader."  
Raph walked the vehicle back some so that it was hiding in the shadows along the side of the building. This way, if he needed to move quickly, the other biker wouldn't see him coming.  
Leo led the way up the building by grabbing onto the beams of the metal stairways along the outside of the building and swinging himself up to the next set above until within a few seconds he reached the roof of the building. He sensed movement behind him and assumed that it was Mikey who was trailing behind, and he also assumed that Sam was probably on his back and holding onto his shoulders, but it was both of them that had moved up the side of the building the same way that he had. He was a bit shocked and wondered if there was anything that Sam couldn't do. She continued to prove that she could do pretty much anything when she ran over to the opposite ledge and said "I see the truck, let's go!" and then ran along the ledge of the roof, dived forward, and tucked and rolled onto the top of the truck. Mikey wasn't far behind her since he wanted to make sure he was close by in case something were to go wrong. Then, Leo followed behind the other two, and once he safely landed on the top of the truck, he crawled over to pull open the doors. He then made sure that everyone was safely inside before slamming them shut behind him.  
"Leo!" Donnie called out, "while chasing this guy I was able to connect to whatever station he's using with whatever device he has up there to communicate with an outside source. A helicopter will be here any minute to pick him up. He has a suitcase with the latest prototypes of the new heart rate monitors. We need to act quickly."  
Leo paused as he tried to come up with a quick plan. "Mikey, you think you can take another shot?"  
"What if he drops them?" Sam asked. "Some people might really need those devices to monitor whatever heart condition they may have…"  
"What are you thinking?" Leo asked.  
"I've seen you guys practice with that device back there, you aim and Mikey shoots. That means you need someone to run up and catch that suitcase. Once that dart kicks in, and depending on which type of darts Donnie supplied, those chemicals will knock that guy out fast."  
"What do you have to say about that Raph?" Leo asked as he looked down at his shell cell on his chest strap.  
 _"Whatever you do, I got your back down here Sam."  
_ Everyone else in the truck nodded towards one another, and they quickly worked together to form a plan.  
Minutes later, Leo pushed open the back doors and helped Sam get settled on the roof of the vehicle, and then he also climbed up with the device tucked under his arm. He turned his head to confirm that the revving he heard behind him was Raph. Once he saw that it was his brother who was trailing behind them, he then crawled forward and started to get the device set up in place. He then turned to make sure that Sam was still alright. He saw that her platform was still suctioned cupped to the roof and that the thick lanyard was connected by the snap hooks to both her nylon webbing chest harness and the suction cupped platform.  
As Leo continued to get the device set up, he heard a helicopter get closer and closer to where they were driving. The next thing he knew, it was over top of the biker, and a harness was being lowered by a thick lanyard cable. The motorcyclist carefully stood up on his bike and jumped, hooking his right arm through one of the two loops of the harness, and he clung on to this lanyard cable as best as he could as he was slowly lifted off the ground, the suitcase tucked under his left arm.  
"Mikey, you have one shot! Raph, get ready on the side!" Leo called out.  
Within a couple seconds, a dart was shot from the device, and it pierced the shoulder of the man in the air. Just like Sam predicted, the suitcase slowly started to slip out from under the man's arm. Sam stood up and took a few steps back. Once she saw that Raph was beside the truck, she then ran forward (making sure to unhook her harness of course) and leaped as far forward as she could. Donnie slammed on the breaks so that the sudden motion would send Sam flying even further forward. This plan worked, and Sam was able to grab onto the falling suitcase. As she then fell back down to the earth, Raph sped up as fast as he could so that he could try to catch her. This sort of worked, but Sam only had one arm available to try and grab onto Raph, so she slipped a bit and fell to his right some. Luckily she was wearing her knee pads and used them to skid across the concrete for a few seconds, her left arm around Raph and her right clinging onto the suitcase. Raph was able to grab onto her and quickly pulled her back up. As she was pulled up, she swung her left leg around so that she was now sitting behind Raph.

The helicopter flew off with the man still dangling in the air, and everyone could finally catch their breath. Raph turned to motorcycle around and rode back towards where the truck had stopped. He parked the vehicle and helped Sam off.  
"You both okay?" Leo asked as he walked around from the back of the truck.  
"Ugh, that put butterflies in my stomach" Mikey complained.  
"You been eating caterpillars?" Sam teased.  
Mikey playfully shoved her shoulder. "Jerk, don't make fun of me for being worried."  
"What were you worried about? Raph had my back!" she said as she faced Raph with a huge smile.  
He gave her a more serious look in return. "I'd agree, if you knew how to fall correctly."  
"I'm sorry, but what bullshit is this?" she asked.  
"You fell to the side, how do you fall to the side? How did you not fall straight down?"  
"I did fall straight down! I only had one free arm! So I couldn't hold on very well and then slid to the slide!"  
"Then you need to learn how to grab onto people better" he mocked as Sam rolled her eyes in return. "So," he began, "how much longer until you were going to let me see this?" he asked as he looked back at the motorcycle behind him.  
"A few more days. I was painting it today…and of course I had it slide across the ground…"  
"How long have you had it?"  
"I dunno, hey Donnie! When did I first show this to you?"  
Donnie walked past the front of the truck after exiting from the driver's seat. "Umm, it's been a little more than a couple of weeks I believe."  
"Wait, you did this?" Leo asked as he looked at Sam.  
"Well, I mean Donnie and Mikey-"  
"NOPE!" Mikey said as he wrapped his arm around Sam's shoulder and covered her mouth with his hand. "She'll never admit it, but this was all her idea and she did 99% of the work!"  
Donnie nodded with a smile. "He's right, she helped find a lot of the parts and she's been working hard on it. I was just an aide on this one."  
Raph nodded and raised his eyebrows in surprise, while Leo shook his head and smiled.  
"Is there anything you can't do? Anything you're afraid of?" Leo asked.  
Sam finally was able to rip Mikey's hand from her mouth. "NOTHING-"  
"Heights, bugs, the dark-"  
"I'm not afraid of the dark!...I get nervous when I hear creepy noises when it's pitch black…or if the lights go out and I don't know why…"  
"So you're afraid of heights?" Donnie asked in a mocking tone.  
"Only when it's a straight drop down, as in there's nothing ANYWHERE to land on or grab onto. Whatever I'm walking on or hanging from also determines how scared I am."  
"Ahh, got it. And bugs?"  
"AS LONG AS THEY'RE NOWHERE NEAR ME THEN I'M GOOD! I'LL BE CALM!"  
"Secrets out! We know how to mess with Sam now" Raph said as he nudged Leo's shoulder. The two brother's laughed as they walked towards the motorcycle and towards the passenger's seat of the truck.  
"Wait, what do you mean?" Sam asked, failing to stay calm as she feared of what those two might do now that they knew what freaked her out more than anything. "Tell me what that means!" she shouted as she climbed up the side and hung onto the door handle on the outside of the passenger door.  
"Nothing Sam, nothing at all" Leo replied as he locked the door and Donnie slowly began to pull away.  
Sam heard the motorcycle start up and turned toward Raph.  
"What does that mean?!"  
"Nothing Sam" Raph replied as he rode past her and ahead of the truck. The truck then followed behind the motorcycle, and Mikey threw open the back doors and held his hand out.  
"Come on Sam!"  
Sam quickly jogged over and grabbed his hand as he pulled her into the back of the truck. After he closed the doors, Mikey pulled Sam back and whispered in her ear. She hoped to hear something like 'don't worry, they would never do anything like that to you,' but it made her even happier when he whispered "don't worry, do you think I'd ever let them do something like that to you?"  
Sam turned towards him and put her fist out. "Cowabunga" she whispered.  
He returned the gesture and whispered "Booyakasha."

 ***Friday June 20** **th** **, Later in the Evening***

"We got here earlier than expected" Donnie said as he led the way across the walkways hidden within the ceiling.  
"She said that depending on how many or if any stoppages occur that it can change the starting time of their games, so I wanted to make sure we got here a few minutes earlier in case the game started sooner than expected" Leo said as he followed behind. "You see her team yet Mikey?"  
"I'm looking, but I don't see anyone that matches the team pictures."

All day Sam had been practicing with her soccer team for a club tournament game that they would be playing that night. It was a smaller tournament that only included local club teams, which meant that the location was much closer to home than most of the teams tournaments. Tonight was the last night for this tournament, (the tournament had gone on for a few weekends rather than having multiple games in one day) and knowing this, the guys decided that they would surprise her by watching her play. The night before Mikey had asked about where the game was being played, but Sam never would have guessed that they'd come and watch her. Once he had the info he needed, Mikey talked to Donnie who then coordinated the best underground route that would allow them to sneak into the arena. Though the tournament was small, the indoor arena was not. There were tons and tons of rooms that could be used for games and practices for multiple different sports, so it was difficult for the guys to figure out which field Sam was playing on.

"Hey, I see some teams over here, any of them look familiar?" Raph asked as he looked down at a field where two female teams were about to play each other.  
Mikey took a quick glance and snickered. "Nope, not them" he said as he quickly turned away.  
"Dude you didn't even look!" Raph snapped.  
"Trust me I know." Mikey walked further down the walkway they were on when finally he spotted Sam. "Found her!"  
The other three brother's walked over towards Mikey and looked at the field below.  
"Mikey, these are boy's teams! Why would Sam be down there?" Raph barked.  
"Because I have the coolest best friend ever" Mikey replied with a cunning smile.  
"He's right, there she is Raph!" Donnie said as he pointed to a person in the bottom right corner of the field.  
Raph was astonished, but also curious as he stared at the girl in her new look. Her hair was pulled back in a pony-tail and her bangs were pushed back with a headband as she wore her black and red uniform, a zig zag going down the entire outfit so that one entire half of the outfit was red and the other black.

Just then, a whistle tweeted, and the game began. Sam slowly started moving forward towards the yellow and blue bearing players on the opposing team. Even though she was on defense she was constantly moving around to different parts of the field. A few minutes after the game started, one of her teammates dropped the ball back down the field to the halfway line on her side of the field. Sam ran to the ball and slowly but steadily started to dribble the ball, looking for any open teammates. She saw that no one was open, but with one quick chop she could run down the middle. She ran up to the opposing player, quickly chopped the ball, and dribbled down towards the goal. Within seconds there was someone running right next to her, so she quickly pulled the ball back and passed to some open space near the right wing. As soon as the ball left her foot, her teammate darted towards the open space and took a shot. The ball was shot just a little too high and it bounced off the top of the board.  
"Ahhh, just a little lower and she would have had another assist!" Mikey cried.  
Just then the goalie threw the ball back down the field and Sam sprinted to get back. There was already someone covering her position, but Sam went to aide him. She helped corner in the opposing player until he lost his footing on the ball. The red and black bearing player quickly passed the ball to Sam ran back a few steps, and when Sam got the ball she quickly bounced it off the wall around the opposing player and back to her teammate who ran the ball back up field.  
"She's fast, I'm surprised she's a defender" Leo said.  
"There's a few reasons," Mikey replied, "one of the original reasons was that no one ever wanted to play defense because that's not the scoring position, so she got tons of playing time in the position that no one wanted. The other reason is because of something her coach told her."  
"And that something would be?"  
"He said that scouts don't always look for the players that score the goals, but rather they look for the players who are able to set up the people who do score. They look for people who can get the ball to that perfect spot so that the forwards can get their goals. He told her that you truly look your best when you're making someone else look good."  
"Heh, so she's looking for the best strategy, even when it comes to sports" Donnie chuckled.

At the 20 minute mark, the opposing team scored a goal, and at the 40 minute mark, Sam's team scored a goal. By half time the game was still tied at 1-1.  
The fast pace of the game continued as soon as the second half started. Sam kept pushing up more and more. There were multiple times where she had to sprint back in order to mark her opposing player and prevent them from scoring, but she always made it back just in time to block their shot, or to stick with them long enough to make them drop the ball back down to the other half of the field. Around the 25 minute mark of the second half, Sam blocked a shot taken from an opposing player, sending the ball into the air above the two of them. They both crouched down, but Sam was able to jumper higher than the boy, and she won the head ball and was able to send it to one of her teammates nearby.  
"Dang, she sure can keep up with these guys" Raph said in amazement.  
"She has to, she's not allowed to play on the girls team" Mikey responded.  
"Wait, what?"  
"Yeah, apparently she started getting to rough when playing other girls, and she showed me video clips of other club teams around the country. Girls team can have some tough and rude players, but she was going overboard even with them, so they recommended her play for a boys team."

Just then, Sam was moving around from open space to open space on the field. She waited for her teammate to take a shot on goal, and continued to run forward even after he did so. The shot was just a hair to high, but after the ball had quickly bounced off the top board of the goal, Sam was already sprinting towards the goal. She quickly ran up and kicked the ball towards the bottom left corner of the goal while the goalie was still in the air from trying to block that last shot. The buzzard sounded from her scoring the goal and people cheered from the stands.  
"THAT'S MY BEST FRIEND!" Mikey shouted.  
"Geez she's fast!" Donnie exclaimed with a smile on his face.  
The game continued on, and the boys were constantly amazed at how Sam was able to hold her all. She was able to sprint to the ball and catch up with anyone on the field, and not only that, but she had incredible speed when it came to her footwork with the ball as well. She was great at improvising in the moment and just moving the ball around in whatever way she needed to. She was also very aggressive and anytime a boy pushed her, she would push back twice as hard. She wasn't perfect of course and there were times where she was beat to the ball or when the opposing person was able to cut around her, but the majority of the time the plays were in her favor.  
By the 40 minute mark the other team had scored once again and the score was tied 2-2. By this point in the game, Sam was playing the sweeper position rather than a defensive wing like she had been the rest of the game.  
"Why are they keeping her so far back? She should be up by the other goal!" Raph complained.  
"I agree, she's fast enough to dribble around these guys, and she's been making great short and quick passes when enclosed in crowded spaces like the opposing team's penalty box is right now" Leo added.  
"Yeah but you have to remember, her mindset is to do whatever it takes to make sure that the ball is staying down at the other end of the field. So while her other 4 teammates are up at the other half of the field, if the ball gets pushed back to her, she can quickly just get it back up to the other half of the field. They constantly practice scenarios like this, especially her and that guy up their named Thomas" Mikey replied as he pointed to a tall boy with brown eyes and short brown hair. "He's usually the main forward who always stays on the upper half of the field unless a penalty kick is being taken against his team."  
Right after Mikey said this, an opposing player had cut around the upper defender who was much further up the field and was quickly dribbling towards the goal. Sam ran at an angle so that it would be harder for him to cut around her. As he kept trying to move the ball in a different direction, Sam was bouncing on her feet and moving quickly so that every time he went to move to the side or diagonally, she was always there to block the shot. She did this long enough for the second defender to come over and aide her in the same way that she had earlier, except this time she was about two steps ahead and closer towards the other goal. She carefully made a short pass off the wall to her assisting defender, who then made another short diagonal pass to some open space beside her. She quickly got the ball, made one quick cut around the offender who had raced back to her spot, and then kicked the ball high into the air. It soared all the way down to the other end of the field to where Thomas was standing. It bounced once and Thomas took a shot. The kick was hard and solid and the ball moved so quickly that those watching could barely even see it. Within that split second, the ball slammed against the wall and the third and final goal was made. The stands roared with applause at the incredible goal that was scored, but the players on both teams were quickly getting back in position.  
Just as quickly as the goal was scored, the blue and yellow team were sprinting down towards the red and black bearing team's goal. All 5 players from both teams were right on top of each other in the small space. Sam was marking the player who currently had the ball, and it was obvious that he was not happy that his team was losing. Full of anger and frustration, he got his elbow and jabbed Sam in the stomach. She took a step back and held her stomach, but quickly tried to get back in position after realizing what this one step had just done. The boy took a shot, but luckily the ball went flying into the net above. People were booing since the ref hadn't blown his whistle, but Sam was able to get her revenge. As soon as that same player got the ball seconds later, she tailed him. She nodded to her other teammates and they understood what she was doing with that simple gesture. One of the offensive players began playing more defensively, and Sam continued to tail the opposing player. Even when he didn't have the ball, she continued to mark him all over the field. Every time one of his teammates went to pass to him, she was right there to block his shots or to kick the ball away from him. With 30 seconds left, she intercepted another pass sent to him and began to dribble the ball towards the opposing goal. Once again, the male player attacked her, only this time he obviously pushed her down. Sam slid across the turf and once again there were tons of boo's coming from the stands.  
"OH COME ON!" Leo shouted!  
"GEEZ REF! DO YOUR JOB!" Raph exclaimed.  
"Mikey, is this happening because of why I think it is?" Donnie asked.  
"If it's a gender thing then yes. She told me that this happens at least once a game, since the refs know they'll get criticized if they constantly give her pk's because people will assume it's because she's a girl. So even if guys purposefully push her or trip her, the ref's won't do a thing about it. She said that one time, there was this guy who looked at the ref to make sure he wasn't looking, and then he elbowed her in the nose."  
"SERIOUSLY?!" Raph shouted. He paused afterward, realizing how defensive he sounded and realizing how concerned he had grown for the girl's safety and well-being.

Just then the final buzzard sounded and the game was over. Player's wearing black and red ran over to Sam and started circling around her. They patted her on the back and her gave daps, treating her like she was one of the guys.  
"THAT'S MY SISTER! WOO!" shouted a voice from the stands.  
The turtles looked over at the Asian man standing and cheering from the stands.  
"Who's that?" Leo asked.  
"Jay, Sam's older adopted brother" Mikey replied.  
Jay exited the stands and waited for Sam to walk over. He was standing with some other young teens as he waited for his sister to arrive from the other side of the building.  
"Are they siblings?" Raph asked in confusion.  
"Yes, but not Sam's. They're all related to other players on the team. They're with Jay because they're all the younger siblings of people who have older siblings that Jay is also friends with."  
"She sure does tell you everything, doesn't she Mikey?" Donnie asked with a laugh.  
"Well duh, that's why we're best friend's bruh! I know almost all the main details of her home life."  
"Almost? Why Michelangelo, I thought you would know everything by now. You know, since you're her BEST FRIEND and all," Leo mocked as he smiled at his younger brother.  
Mikey smiled back at his brother, but his expression had softened. "She tells me a lot, and I do the same to her, but I can tell that there are still some serious details she hasn't told me yet."  
"Like how she only talks about Jay in the present tense?" Donnie asked.  
"What?"  
"You haven't noticed that? Whenever she talks about her parents or her other siblings, she always uses the past tense, but she uses the present tense when talking about Jay."  
The other three brother's took a moment to stop and think about what Donnie had just said, and the more they thought about it, the more they realized he was right.  
"Regardless, I don't want her to feel like she has to explain herself. I want her to talk about her personal life when she's ready" Mikey said with a sincere smile.  
"Awww, well aren't you the perfect gentleman?" Raph said as he threw an arm around Mikey's shoulder.  
The youngest rolled his eyes as all four of them laughed.  
"Hey, what's April doing here?" Leo asked.  
Off in the distance, Sam and some of the other boys had caught up to Jay and the other teens, and next to them was April who was chatting away with the group.  
"Huh, I wonder if there's going to be a news segment about the soccer team" Donnie added.  
"Either way, I'm taking a picture and sending it to Sam!" Mikey said.  
He took the picture, sent the message, and waited. A few seconds later, he saw Sam's shocked face as she turned towards where they were hiding. Mikey crouched down and quickly waved his hand in a spot where it would momentarily be seen. A large smile grew on his face when he saw that Sam had the exact same expression on her face after seeing that he was there.  
Her smile then grew even larger when she saw three more hands quickly wave to her, letting her know that all four of the brother's had come and watched her play.  
"Alright, let's go. Until Donnie finishes fixing the small police scanner, we don't know if the city needs us or not" Leo stated.  
The brother's began to head out, wondering what it was that Sam and April were talking about, but knowing that they would eventually know once the two joined back up with them the next day.

 ***Sam POV after the Game***

"I told you all those practice plays would be worth it!" Thomas exclaimed as he walked next to Sam. The two walked with their group as the team dispersed and walked around the field and over towards where their family members were waiting for them.  
"Oh I knew they would! You're telling this to the wrong person, Kyle is the one wanted to keep ending our practices early!" she said as she playfully glared at the boy she was accusing.  
"HEY! I only wanted to end practices early when I knew we could get free food! I swear every time there was a restaurant with some type of free give away, you two wanted to extend our practice time."  
"Well, now you should be happy that we did that" she said as she gave him a huge smile.  
"See, what we should really be talking about is how amazing my first goal was, which lead to our increase in stamina" Ryan said. Ryan was mixed and had light brown skin with a short haircut and brown eyes.  
"Oh my god, I've never met someone as cocky as you" Nathan said as he rolled his eyes. Nathan had short brown hair and brown eyes. He had some light facial hair and had visible muscles even through his uniform.  
"It's called confidence! And I need it if I want scouts to look at me!"  
"Then in that case, I've never met someone as confident as you" Nathan said with a smirk.  
"Are you kidding me? We just won another tournament! We're going to have scouts all over us!" Key said with a huge smile.  
"Psh, easy for you to say that. If you don't get scouted for this sport then you have a million other sports you can be scouted for" Ryan said, rolling his eyes.  
"Dude, I only play a few" Key said.  
"Let's count," Sam cut in, "there's soccer, basketball, lacrosse, football, and baseball."  
"Don't forget wrestling!" Kris added.  
"Oh right, and wrestling" she said as she gave Key a mocking smile.  
"Okay, okay. But you guys know soccer is my favorite out of all of them. So I want to impress the soccer scouts as much as you guys."  
"Don't worry. As long as we all play the way we did tonight, then we're all going to be living the dream as professional athletes" Kris **ey, what's April** said.

By then, they had made their way over to where Jay was standing.  
"Hey Jay, I totally didn't know you were here and screaming the whole time" Sam teased as she gave her older brother a hug.  
"Does anything hurt? Are you alright?"  
"Yes Jay, I'm not crying and I'm walking on my own. I'm perfectly fine."  
"Once again you were incredible out their Sam, way to show that girls can keep up with the guys" said Grace.  
"That's why you should join the track team. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge" said Clay.  
Thomas, Clay, and Grace were triplets and born in that order. Each of them had the same short brown colored haircut, and Thomas and Grace both had brown eyes while Clay had blue.  
"Oh hush up! How about you do something besides just run!" Thomas teased.  
"I do more than run…I also do long jump" Clay said, followed by his brother playfully hitting him.  
"So, did my stupid brother steal your spotlight again?" Angel asked.  
"Why even ask, you already know the answer" Ashley replied.  
Sam shrugged her shoulders. "Your cousins got a point Angel."  
"I said it was confidence! Stop making me sound like a bad person!" Ryan exclaimed.  
Angel was the year younger brother to Ryan, and Ashley was their cousin and was the same age as Angel and Sam. Both girls had the same light brown skin as Ryan, and also had black and brown hair with brown eyes.

"Excuse me," a voice cut in, "but you guys are players from the winning team right?"  
"April! What's up?" Sam said with a smile.  
"You know her?" Jay asked.  
"Oh yeah. I don't know if you two have met, but she works with Irma. Not too long ago Kris and I walked to their work building and April was kind enough to give me a ride to a friend's house. They were actually friends of hers as well."  
"Oh…really?" Jay asked.  
At that time, Sam had gotten a text message, so she didn't notice the worry in her brother's voice, or that her friends were all faking their calm and collected expressions at hearing that Sam was friends with friends of April's.  
Jay lent his hand out to April. "Jay Allan Park, nice to meet you" he said, fixing his expression so that April didn't sense his distrust in her.  
"April O'Neil. I'm a news reporter."  
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to act so clueless. I've seen you on t.v. before. I'm surprised to see you here though, since you're usually covering the latest and most serious news stories."  
"Well I do that, and I'm doing that now. I don't know if any of you know this, but tons of people are talking about this team and are excited to see you in the tournament coming up this summer to see if you'll be the team to represent New York in the states cup."  
"We know" Sam cut in. "And we're hoping to impress tons of scouts when we fight for our state spot" she said with a huge smile.  
April gave her a funny look. "You're much cheerier than you were a second ago."  
"Haha, it's nothing. I just found out that our friends were here tonight" Sam said, a huge smile still on her face.  
"Really? Were they in the stands?" Jay asked, masking his concern.  
"Yeah, but they had to leave quickly, so I didn't get a chance to see where they were sitting. Anyway, is there any way we can help you out April?"  
"Yes! If you guys are okay, would you mind if I interviewed any or possibly all of you? I'd love to ask you some questions about both this game and the summer tournament."  
Sam turned towards the group standing behind her.  
Each of them smiled and nodded, resulting in a very happy April.  
"Thank you so much to all of you! Please just give me one minute to get my cameraman and we'll start getting everything set up!" April walked off, and her and another man (Sam recognized that the man was Vern) began setting up a camera.

Throughout the entire interview, Sam was never able to detect that Jay and their friends were fighting to keep their cool in front of April. They were all shocked to hear that Sam was friends with people that April knew, and they really wanted to ask Sam questions about this friendship. After the interview, they all walked with Jay to the nearest bus stop, thoughts circling through their minds about who exactly it was that Sam was friends with all this time. By now, through word of mouth from different friends and siblings, they knew that Sam was starting to go back to how she used to be and that this was because she had made a new friend. Now it had come out that she had made new friends, which was news to everyone, and they so badly wanted to ask her who these friends were and how she met them. However, they knew there would be consequences if they dived deeper into the subject, especially if she was friends with who they feared she might be, so for now they all stayed calm and collected and acted like they all normally would, hopping that word of this wouldn't reach 'him.'


	17. Chapter 17

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #17

* **Sunday June 22** **nd** ***  
*Theme:  
Porter Robinson and Madeon-Shelter***

"Whoaaa!" the turtles said as they watched Optimus prove his strength to Grimlock. Sam knew that the movie theater they were at closed early on Sundays, so she showed the guys how she usually snuck in and now for the first time the four brothers were watching a Hollywood movie up close on the big screen, and they couldn't have asked for a more perfect first film: Transformers Age of Extinction. Out of her peripheral vision, Sam could see all the guys jaws drop when the Dinobots came charging in, literally crushing all the man-made Decepticons that crossed their path.

It was 10:00 when the movie ended and the entire mall was now closed, so Sam thought it would be a fun idea to go on a walk with the guys, who obviously had never been to the mall before.  
Sam was currently with Leo in another antique store. He liked to look for antiques that represented Japanese culture, but him being the only 'mature' one, no one else wanted to look around the store (or any of the others he had chosen) so she joined him once again so that he wouldn't be alone. At the moment he was looking at a tea set with Japanese Cherry Blossoms on them, but after so long he couldn't stand Sam constantly staring at him.  
"Why don't you just take a picture?" he said sarcastically.  
"Sorry I know it's not funny, but you totally look like a grandpa who's trying to pick out a traditional gift for his wife" she said with a smirk.  
"Is that why you keep following me around in these stores?" he asked as he placed the tea cups down and continued walking throughout the store.  
"Well I was trying to be nice and not have you shop alone, but I see that I'm not wanted" she pouted.  
Leo rolled his eyes. "Ahh, so you're not trying to be annoying on purpose."  
"You enjoy my company, don't deny it!" she said as she pointed at him with a smile.  
Leo shrugged, but they both knew that this was very true. He had a feeling that his younger brothers would either complain or joke around too much in a store like this, so it was nice to have Sam around, someone who knew when to be serious and when to crack a joke, someone you could actually talk to and them not tease you when you share your thoughts.  
He looked over and saw her laughing while holding a wooden umbrella with a paper top.  
"What am I missing?" he asked as he picked one up and looked at the stripped design when it opened up.  
"I was thinking of my older brother Brian. Everyone teased me about being Asian at heart since I've always been interested in Asian cultures. My other blood siblings were interested some, but never as much as I was. Before he even became my brother he would take me to places like this all the time, it kind of became this tradition between the two of us. I was thinking of this one time where he was holding umbrellas like this over his head and making the dorkiest faces" she said as she laughed. "Oh my god I'm literally laughing at things only I know about, I've become that person."  
Leo smiled at her as he thought back to what Donnie had said the other night. It might have just been a coincidence, but she said that Brian 'would take me to places' rather than saying 'Brian takes me to places like this.' Now that he had been looking out for this, he noticed that she definitely talked like this a lot. He decided to test this out.  
"Does Jay bring you to places like this?"  
"Sometimes. He never used to though. I think he saw that it was a fun little tradition between me and Brian, so I don't think he wanted to interfere, but I don't see Brian as much now, so I think that's why every once in a while he'll bring me to places like this."  
"Ahh, I see." She did it again. She said 'it was' and 'he wanted' as if this was all something of the past, rather than saying 'he sees that it's a fun tradition' and 'he doesn't want to interfere.' He wondered what all this meant, or if it meant anything at all. He wondered if it was something they all should be concerned about, but Sam seemed happy and content, so he decided that it was best to leave the subject alone until Sam brought this info to light on her own.

They walked around the store for another ten minutes and then headed out. They passed by a few stores and found Donatello in yet another electronics shop.  
"What did you find this time dorkatello?" Sam teased.  
He playfully glared at her. "I found donated phones. I'm looking at which ones are damaged really badly and which ones can be saved. I read online that the donated phones that can be saved are sent to U.S. troops overseas, so I don't want to take those, I'm not that selfish. However, I will take the ones that are smashed up and can be re-wired so that I can use them for various things."  
"Look at you. Not only looking out for the state, but also for the country" she said as she saluted to him.  
"That's actually a cool idea" Leo said as he looked at some of the phones throughout the bin.  
"Find anything for Sensei?" Donnie asked as he looked up at his eldest brother.  
"Nah, nothing that he doesn't already have."  
"Gotcha. Well, I think I'm done with this store. I'm ready whenever you guys are."  
The three then walked out of the store and found the remaining two brother's at a cologne shop on the other side of the mall.  
They walked in and saw Mikey and Raph looking at various glass bottles.  
"Pfft." Sam covered her mouth and tried not to laugh out loud. She thought it was hilarious seeing these two, who usually acted so macho, testing all these colognes on the sample strips and discussing which scents they liked best.  
The two boys looked over and glared at her, that's when she turned towards Donnie.  
"Donatello! Don't laugh at your brothers!" she said as she shoved his arm.  
"You know I'm taller and stronger than you, right?"  
"Is that a threat?" she said as she as pretended to be taken aback, though they both knew she was joking.  
He nodded and said "yeah" with a sincere smile, joining in on her joke.  
"Well, this is how I respond to threats!" she said as she leaped onto his back.  
Leo just stared at the two of them as they backed out of the store as they goofed off.  
"You'd never know that she was just looking through an antique store, or that she's older than us."  
Mikey laughed and Raph smiled, both at seeing Sam continue to show her true colors, and also at their nerdy brother let loose and have fun.  
Leo began looking at some of the bottles that lined the shelves. He had absolutely no idea what the scent of each liquid was since, well, no scent was stated on the front of the bottle. Curious, he picked up a bottle with light blue liquid inside, shrugged his shoulders, and sprayed a small amount in front of him. He took a sniff and then made a face of disgust.  
"Oh god, this stinks as bad as when Mikey found that Axe body spray pack and tried on each one at the exact same moment" Leo said, waving his hand in front of his face.  
Just then, Sam and Donnie had walked back in. Donnie began looking at bottles on the opposite wall and Sam had meant to walk past Leo to see what the other two had picked up, but she also stopped and made a face of disgust.  
"What did you do?" she asked.  
"Sprayed whatever this is" he said as he held up the bottle.  
Raph inspected the bottle in his brother's hand. "You guys don't like this? This is brand new!"  
"Well tell them to take it back" Sam said as she coughed.  
"You're a girl, right? Aren't you supposed to like when guys wear stuff like this?" Raph asked.  
"Sexist much?"  
He paused and then turned his head. "Donnie?"  
"Totally sexist dude" he said as he continued to look at bottles on the opposite wall.  
"Oh, heh, my bad" he said with an apologetic smile.  
"No problem" she chuckled with a smile. "Well I'm going anywhere that's not here and that doesn't stink" she said with a wide smile.  
"I second that" Leo said as he followed behind.  
"Tch, they don't get it" Mikey said as he nudged Raph, who nodded in agreement as they pulled on Donnie's shoulder so that he would walk with them as they all followed Sam.  
They passed a few stores until Sam stopped, waiting for the guys reactions.  
"Ohhhhh!"  
"Whoaaaa!" each of them said as they all ran inside GameStop.  
"You're welcome?" she said as she stared at the jaw dropped brothers.  
They all quickly turned towards her, said "thanks Sam!" and then continued looking throughout the store.  
Donnie was the closest, so she walked over and looked at the game he was looking at.  
"Awwwww I can't wait until I get a copy of this" she said as she looked at the case for Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark with a huge smile.  
"Only two more days and then I can start hacking systems to access this game" Donnie said, a huge smile also displayed on his face.  
"I'm still pissed Bumblebee doesn't have a voice though. They should just leave the job to Johnny Bosch, for the games and the films. Like, he's incredible when it comes to voice acting, and I'm not just saying that because he voices characters from some of my most favorite anime."  
"I wouldn't mind that, his voice actually had a nice fit. Plus that would be a huge opportunity for him which he totally deserves."  
Sam then turned around and saw Leo looking at a demo screen in the front of the store which was currently advertising a trailer for Titanfall. Leo's eyes were glued to the screen as he watched a pilot battle his way through the Frontier and then begin commanding a Titan.  
"Gee Leo, sucks that you can't take the game home, doesn't it?" Sam smirked.  
"Right…I can't take the game…because that would be stealing…yeah" Leo said as he slowly started backing away, but then was pulled back towards the screen.  
"Look what that Titan can do" he said in a calming voice as he smiled and started walking back towards the screen.  
That's when Sam knew she had to interrupt his line of sight.  
"Okay, why don't you go look over there?" she said as she fought to literally turn him around. "I'm gonna look over there now" he said calmly as he also fought himself to finally turn away from the screen.  
He walked over to Raph and looked over his shoulder at the game in his hand.  
"Daylight?" Leo asked.  
"Yeah. It's a survival horror game where you have to find object's that explain the history behind the haunted hospital that you wake up in. I heard it got some negative reviews, but it sounds interesting."  
"I didn't know you were interested in horror games" Leo said.  
Raph shrugged. "I'm not interested in them, but this one sounded interesting. What do you have Mikey?"  
"BAM! Look at this beaut!" he said as he held out a copy of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.  
"Oooh!" Sam said as she ran over. "I remember seeing the trailers for this! I can't wait to get a copy."  
"Let me know as soon as you do!"  
"Well duh, I can't play multiplayer by myself" she said, receiving a playful shove from her friend. "Well, I'm done looking at games, time to go play" she said as she walked out of the store.  
The guys watched her as she walked across the walkway to the other side of the mall, down some stairs, and then walk back over to the store that was below them. Mikey was the first to act as he walked over and jumped over the railing and from the second floor down to the first (for them this jump was nothing serious.) The remaining brothers decided that he must have enjoyed wherever it was that they went since he never came back, so they did the same thing and landed in front of the shop below the gaming store. Instantly they knew why Mikey hadn't come back to signal them to come down, he was already running around throughout the arcade. All four brothers looked around at all the different games inside the rather large space. It seemed small from the outside, but once inside, spectators could see that the room continued to travel further and further back with more and more games. In order to prevent a lot of loud noise, the five decided to only turn on whatever game it was that they wanted to play at that time.

Donnie ventured out to find some speed games. He first found a game called Pop the Locks where a dial spins around and you have to press a button when the dial stops on the lock, and if you press the button after it's moved past or before it hits the lock then you're out. Sam and Mikey first moved to a game called The Shocker where you have to hold onto two handles as the vibration becomes stronger and stronger, and you lose if you let go. These two played this game until they momentarily couldn't feel their hands, and then they convinced Donnie to play, and then they convinced all of them to play until everyone momentarily lost feeling in their hands. Sam and Mikey then freaked out when they saw Transformers and Walking Dead themed shooting games and both rushed over and immediately started playing, and while they played this, the other three brother's found some pinball machines to play. Once the shooters completed their missions, Leo, Raph, and Mikey moved on to play more of the sporty games where they took shots on goal, threw basketballs through hoops, bowled to knock down pins, or threw baseballs and footballs in their hole. Sam didn't care for games like these as much, so she stuck around with Donnie for a bit who went back to speed related games. The two played the electronic jump rope game, had to stack 3-D towers, (both by pressing buttons or by moving a square controller from side to side) had to use their fingers to maneuver through mazes, and had to land lights on the right spot to get wheels to spin. When the group came back together as a whole, they decided to play all the games that were based on apps. They pressed buttons to avoid green pipes when playing Flappy Bird, rolled a sphere controller when playing Temple Run, launched back their controllers to launch birds in the latest Angry Birds game, and swiped their hands across the screen when playing Fruit Ninja. They continued to split up and play various games, but the last two hours were spent with each other as a group of five. They found as many games as they could where they could all compete against each other in tournaments: air hockey, skeeball, racing games, back to sporty games, and even multiple rounds of DDR.

Most would see this as such a simple night of watching a movie at the theater, going shopping, and playing some games at the arcade, but for their own reasons, this was one of the best night of all five of their lives.

 ***Wednesday June 25** **th** **, Madison Square Garden's Arena, the Jumbo Tron*  
*Turtles POV***

The final buzzard went off and the game was over. The four turtles were cheering for the Knicks who had just won another game that season.  
"You know what a victory means?" Mikey asked.  
"Gee, what could that mean?" Donnie asked sarcastically, knowing exactly what his younger brother was about to say.  
"MORE PIZZA!" he shouted.  
"Ugh, how can you eat anymore? We ordered so many to begin with, and you even had some earlier before we left" Leo said as he held his stomach. He was full and wouldn't be hungry again until sometime tomorrow afternoon, so how Mikey could still want food he would never understand.  
"I told you, his stomach is a black hole" Raph teased. "That or he's an alien or something."  
"Then Sam must be one to! Seriously, sometimes she can eat as much as I can!"  
"Doubt it."  
"As scary as it is to admit, it's true. I've seen it happen" Donnie said with a shudder.  
"Guys" Leo said as he nodded his head over towards Sam.  
The whole time they had been talking, Sam had been looking at something down below. Leo tried to follow what she was looking at without making it obvious, but he couldn't figure out what her attention was focused on. She hadn't moved, she hadn't even blinked, she just stared down at something without any movement, like it had shocked her so much that she was now paralyzed. Without saying anything, she turned and swung herself back up to the walkways above their spot in the Jumbo Tron and she took off.  
"Sam, wait!" Mikey called.  
"Do we chase her?" Raph asked, concern and fear in his tone. He had no idea where she was going and if whatever she was about to do would risk either hers or their lives.  
"Don't worry I can track her" Donnie said as he pulled out a small handheld GPS system from one of the pockets on the straps running down his chest. His fingers went to work and within seconds he knew where Sam was. "I found her, but…this shows that she's still in the building…"  
"Mikey? Any idea what's going on?" Leo asked as he faced his youngest brother.  
Mikey shook his head with a grave and somber look on his face. "I wish I knew."  
"She's on the move, and so are we" Donnie said as he started climbing back up to the walkways above them.  
"Where we goin?" Raph asked as he trailed behind Donnie.  
"She's heading back outside, if we get to the roof then we might be able to spot her."  
The four turtles rushed back up and through the walkways and then back up to the roof where they were walking along the sides of the top of the building.  
"Arghhh, there's people everywhere! How are we supposed to find her?" Raph asked in frustration.  
"It says…she should be this way" Donnie said as he pointed towards the front of the building.  
There were crowds of people all over the place, both because of the game letting out, and also because this was New York during the summer.  
"FOUND HER!" Mikey shouted and pointed at a girl who had just run across to the other side of the street. They saw her run over to a group of six guys and then pull on the arm of a young Asian male within the group.  
"Mikey-"  
"I don't know, she's never really mentioned any guys outside from her soccer team. I mean, there were a few from dance and different clubs, but he doesn't match any of the faces from any of the pictures. There were five main Asian guys she told me about and he's not one of them."  
"Is he the brother?" Donnie asked. "She said she had another Asian brother who was younger than Jay."  
"That's true, she said that he was far away and that's why she could never see him" Mikey responded.  
"Unless that's what she wants us to think. That or someone doesn't want her to know the truth herself and those were the lies she was fed" Leo stated.  
"I don't like this, feels like she's still hiding things from us" Raph said in a bitter tone. He knew there were things she hadn't told them yet about her family, and she had her right to her privacy, but this sneaky act worried him. If that was her brother, couldn't she have just said that before she ran off?  
They watched Sam hug the man, and the group of guys walked off in one direction while she walked off in the other direction. She walked off towards a street that was oddly silent and vacant compared to the hustle and bustle outside the stadium.  
"Now where's she going?!" Raph yelled.  
"Something's wrong, we need to get to the sewers and get over there" Mikey said.  
Leo let his brother lead the way. Whenever Donnie or Raph knew more information about a criminal they were all chasing, or whatever the situation may be, he would let that brother take control and lead if it meant better chances of them completing their mission, but this was the first time Mikey had EVER taken the lead in a chase. This proved to Leo how serious this was and he followed Mikey in whatever directions he gave.

About twenty minutes later after they had traveled underground and had tracked Sam's movements, Mikey didn't hesitate to climb up, toss of the manhole cover above him, and rush over to Sam.  
"Sam!" he shouted as he ran over to where Sam was walking. She didn't respond.  
He quickened his pace and as he was about to lightly grab her arm and talk to her, Raph had already caught up to him.  
"HEY SAM. Remember us?!"  
Now that there was a 6 ft. turtle in front of her, Sam stopped walking. Raph's expression softened as he stared at the girl in front of him. Her eyes looked so frail and glassy, and her hands were shaking like he had never seen before.  
"…I came to the game with you guys…right…my bad" she said with the fakest smile. Usually only Mikey could tell when her smiles were sincere or fake, but her acting was so off point that all the brothers knew something was wrong.  
"Did that guy do something?" Raph asked.  
"No"  
"…that's it?"  
"…what?"  
The boy's worry continued to grow. Even though she was standing right in front of them, it was like Sam couldn't hear a thing. Something was obviously on her mind, but getting her to explain what exactly that something was would be the hard part.  
Right as Leo was about to ask if the guy she chased after was her brother, Sam cut him off.  
"It's late, so I'm gonna head home, alone."  
At this point she spoke without using her fake smile, and she went back to displaying her glassy eyed and twitchy expression. She had already started walking off before the guys could speak, and they weren't really sure what to do in this situation.

"So, do we ignore this as a girl thing? Or do we look into it and assume it's a Sam thing?" Raph asked.  
"We call April. She's the only other female we know, and one of the three humans we know, plus she's a reporter and is trained to read people's expressions. Hopefully she can help us figure out what to do. We'll go back underground while we call her." Leo said.  
Donnie and Raph started heading back towards the sewer hole, but Leo had to go over and wake Mikey up from his daze.  
"Mikey? You alright?"  
"No" he replied bluntly.  
Leo put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Don't worry, we're going to figure this out, okay?"  
Mikey paused for a moment. "Should I have gone after her? Should any of us have gone after her?" he said as he continued to face forward.  
"I wish I knew. I'm just as new to girls and humans in general as you are bro. But if she needs someone to go after her, then you'll be the one" Leo said with a small smile.  
This also lead to a small smile forming on Michelangelo's face as well, and the two turtles then walked back towards the sewer hole to hear what Donnie and Raph had been discussing with April.

 ***Sam POV*  
*Themes:  
Linkin Park-Nobody Can Save Me  
Linkin Park-One More Light  
Trading Yesterday-Shattered**

She happened to catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, but now she lost him. The guys continued to cheer as the game continued on, but Sam and her thoughts were long gone. She saw him, she knew for a fact that she just saw Brian. It had to be him, the boy she saw looked exactly like him at the age of 17. THERE. She found him and continued to keep her eyes on him. " **Bzzzzzzz** ," that was the final buzzard. No, it couldn't be the end of the game now, not yet, not when she had finally found her brother. He left four years ago and finally she had found him.  
She watched him head to the exit on her right and without hesitation she darted out and up through the walkway they used to enter the Jumbo Tron. She sprinted to a point along the walkways that led to a ladder that lead to the top floor where the highest seats in the arena were. She climbed down the ladder and then ran through crowds of people to the right side of the building where she had seen the boy exiting the arena. She had seen him in the upper level seats, but now he was nowhere to be found, so she ran to the staircase and sprinted down the steps. She made her way to the lobby and walked as quickly as she could all over the place. Her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest because of everything that she was feeling and thinking. Emotions that she had finally pushed and shoved under the rug were now forcing their way back out and flying up and hitting her like a brick. Her hands were shaking like crazy and for the first time she heard how loud she was breathing. She felt like she was running around in circles and she didn't know what to do. After what felt like years of searching, she caught another glimpse of him and his five other friends.  
Once again she was on the move as she chased after the boy. She thought of nothing but catching up to Brian and asking him questions, so many questions. Why did he leave her? Why did he do what he did? Why had it taken him four years to visit her? Her heart beats increased as her breathing grew louder and louder. She ran out of the building and saw him head for the cross walk.  
"Brian!" she called out. A few heads turned since it was a common name, but not the head that she wanted to. "Brian! BRIAN!" She slowly got closer and closer to where he was walking, but he never turned towards her. She couldn't understand why he was ignoring her, but now was the time to find out.  
She finally caught up to the boy and yanked on his arm, forcing him to turn around and look at her.  
"Whoa! What the hell is your problem?" the boy said as he and his friends turned around.  
"My problem? I've been calling you for the longest time! You didn't hear me calling your name?" she asked in an enraged tone.  
"All I heard was some girl calling after some guy named Brian, so sorry if I couldn't hear you over that."  
She paused and gave him a confused expression. "So you did hear me? Why were you ignoring me then? I need to know!"  
"Know what?" the boy asked, looking both nervous and confused.  
"Why did you risk your life for me that night? And I've been waiting for a sign from you, from all of you! Why did it take you so long to contact me?!"  
"Look crazy lady you need to back up! I don't know who Brian is but he's not me" he said as he put his hands up in defense and as his friends began to lightly laugh at the strange girl standing in front of them.  
"What are you talking…about…?" And that's when she realized, it wasn't him. Everything made sense and reality slapped her in the face harder than the forced out emotions she had just experienced mere minutes to seconds ago had. She realized that this man had blue eyes instead of brown. She realized that this man seemed as tall as Jay, whereas Brian was about a foot or so shorter. She realized that this man had visible muscle, whereas Brian had natural muscle that could only be seen when he flexed. She realized that, when seen up close, this man had a light brown tint to his hair, and Brian had never made any changes to his natural black hair. She realized that their hairstyles were different, she realized she had never seen this group of friends, she realized his clothes stated he was rooting for the wrong team. Sam realized that this couldn't be Brian, because Brian was dead.

Her jaw slowly dropped and she felt so stupid and embarrassed.  
"Oh my god…I'm…I'm so sorry. Um, can I explain myself before you all continue to think I'm crazy?" she asked.  
"Uh sure, go for it."  
"I have a few adopted siblings, one of them being an Asian male obviously named Brian, and um…he passed away about four years ago. So from afar, you really, really, look like him. Up close I can now see the differences, but from afar you looked like his twin. I just…I haven't seen him in so long" she said as a choked sob slipped out as she spoke. "I'm so sorry for chasing you like this-"  
"Stop" the boy said. He walked up to her and gave her a sincere smile. "For one, I'm honored that I look like your brother, I'm sure he was a handsome man." This got Sam to give a small smile as she sensed that he was trying to lighten the mood and lessen the awkward tension from before. "And two, I'm so sorry that you lost him, and the next time someone comes running up to me the way you just did, I'll be a lot more considerate as to why they're doing it. I'm sorry for calling you crazy."  
She shook her head. "You don't have to apologize, I'm sure I would have been weirded out if a stranger came running up to me like that as well. That's the first time that's ever happened actually."  
"I wish I could answer all your questions. What did he do anyway, did he save you in a car accident or something?" the boy asked.  
"Yeah, something like that." It wasn't exactly like that, but he did risk his life to save hers, they all did. Jay just got lucky and so did she, unlike the others.  
"If it means anything," the boy continued, "the fact that you saw someone who looks so much like your brother might still be a sign from him. Maybe there's something he wanted to you think about when seeing me, well him, you know? Or maybe he's trying to test you somehow."  
"Yeah, maybe so." Her small smile grew a bit more on her face. That actually sounded like Brian who was always testing her and finding ways to playfully trick her. "Thanks for this, I'll leave you guys be."  
"Wait" he said as he reached his arms out. "I know I'm not your brother, but I can hug you like I'm him, unless that's weird."  
She gave a small laugh and hugged the boy.  
"Is there anything we can do to help you? Even a ride home or anything?" some of the other guys started asking with sincerity in their tones.  
Sam pulled back from the hug. "No thanks, besides I need to go catch up with my oldest brother."  
"Hope you find your brother's meaning" the boy said with a smile, and Sam and the group of boys parted ways.

As soon as she knew she was alone, her smile quickly faded back to her cold frown. She noticed that her hands were shaking again, and now that she was by herself, dark thoughts started racing through her mind. The memories she had been fighting for so long to forget were all coming back. She had to get home, she wanted no one other than Jay, who knew and understood what she was feeling because he was there that night that everything happened. She couldn't tell anyone about the Foot attack that night. It was too hard to talk about and it was too personal, and she had to truly 110% trust someone with her life in order to tell the full truth about this. She also just wanted to be alone. The world had cast her out after what happened. When she needed people most, they all vanished. Her closest childhood friends separated themselves from her and left her all alone. She was alone, and that's how she had taught herself to deal with her problems. She would bottle things up within herself and she wouldn't talk to anyone, since no one wanted to hear about it anyway, and knowing that no one wanted to hear about it, this was why she could only tell someone that she trusted her life with, and that person was Jay. He was never around though, so that lead her back to keeping everything to herself, back to her being alone. Friends were gone, and since Jay was basically always working, her whole family was gone. Everyone was gone and she was alone. Always alone, and that's how it would always be.  
"HEY SAM. Remember us?!"  
Sam stopped once she realized that there was a 6ft. turtle yelling at her as he stood in her path. She wondered how they knew where she was when she remembered that she was with them at the game before everything happened.  
"…I came to the game with you guys…right…my bad" she said as she fought her hardest to fake a smile without crying, but she could tell they all knew just how fake her expression was.  
"Did that guy do something?" Raph asked.  
"No." _"Leave me alone"_ she thought.  
"…that's it?"  
"…what?" _"I want to be alone. Just let me leave"_ she thought to herself. Ever since that night, she was always alone, especially when she was upset. When people ditched her because she was broken, she learned to handle anything that upset her on her own. She didn't want to be around anybody but her brother, and as much as she loved these guys, they weren't her actual brothers. They didn't know the things that Jay knew and she wasn't ready to tell them and she knew that they would want to protect her which included asking her questions as to what just happened and she didn't want to answer those questions, so she bailed before anyone else could speak.

"It's late, so I'm gonna head home, alone" she said bluntly. She couldn't fight any longer and she felt the tears in her eyes, so she walked away and prayed that they would leave her alone. She rounded a corner and she didn't hear anything behind her, so she knew she was okay. She felt guilty for keeping secrets from them, especially from Mikey, but…she just wasn't ready. She loved that she wasn't trapped inside her room anymore and that she actually had somewhere to go with people that cared about her, but it was still so soon. She had dropped some hints about her past with her siblings, which was huge for her to do even that, like how she told Raph that the sais belonged to Chuck. Jesus talking about Chuck at all was a huge deal for her. And that was the thing, her four green friends, April, Splinter, without knowing it, they were all pulling her out of a deep well that she had fallen into for years. Within each of them she had found pieces of a puzzle that she had lost for so long, but seeing Brian like that was the equivalent of knocking that puzzle to the floor and shattering it into a million little pieces. She felt herself falling back into that well that she had taken so long to climb out of.

She felt that no matter who came along, no matter what changes or gains came into her life, she would never be able to escape from the horrors of the past. She could see clones of Brian every day, but that didn't change the fact that he was gone. It didn't matter that she taught Leo and Raph to cook the way Brian taught her, it didn't matter that Leo liked antiques like Brian or that Donnie quizzed her the way Brian did, or that Mikey played videogames with her the same way Brian did, he was and always would be gone. It was the same for all of them. No matter what qualities her new friends had that reminded her of her family members, they were all gone. And as she thought of this, their final breaths played over and over again in her head. She saw all of them, remembered where they were and what they were doing before the events that lead to their deaths. She could hear their conversations and could see their smiling faces before they turned into teary eyed expressions that screamed in terror. She remembered everything, including how they died. The sequence of events stayed on replay. Over and over she mentally watched the horrors of that night.

Sam collapsed against the side of the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the ground. She couldn't do anything about it. No matter how happy she had become, one small moment had broken and destroyed her, and now she would have to start back over from scratch. She was scared, and alone. At this point she didn't care if a criminal came and attacked her in any way, she was lost in the darkness of her thoughts and nothing could pull her out, at least that's what she thought.

"Sam?" she heard a gentle voice ask.  
She thought she was imagining things and sat still, until she felt someone hold her shaking hands.  
"I've never seen your hands shake like this before" the voice said as it took her hands into his.  
She slowly turned her glassy eyes towards the voice and saw none other than her best friend kneeling down next to her.  
"I told you I wanted to be alone" she mumbled, choking out her words in her sobs. She hadn't even realized she was crying with tears streaming down her face because she had been so lost in her thoughts. In fact, she did even know where it was she had been walking. These thoughts halted once she realized Mikey was there, and she could now tell that her cheeks were soaked from her tears.  
"I know, but I really wanted to go after you, though I wasn't sure if it was a girl reason or a Sam reason that you were acting the way you were, but regardless I didn't like that you were heading towards a lone street by yourself at this hour. Anyway, we called April and she said that when girls say they want to be left alone, then usually they want to be chased after by someone they care about. She also said that in general that someone should at least watch over you to make sure you were safe, so that's what I'm doing. I'm sorry if I'm making you more upset by being here…but I couldn't leave you alone."  
Sam stared at him, just straight up stared at him for the longest time. She had a hard time processing that someone actually gave a shit. Not because she asked them to and not because they needed something, but because they truly and genuinely just gave a shit about her. She wanted to be alone because everyone had left her that way, but…was it what she really wanted? Or had she forced that thought into her mind because everyone had left her by herself for so long? She thought that she would hate it if someone followed her and that she needed to handle this alone, but she was wrong about herself. She was happy, and for the first time ever, she had begun to cry happy tears along with the sad ones.  
"Thank you" she said as tears streamed down her face.  
Mikey gave her a light smile and gently pulled her over. He sat cross legged as Sam now sat in his lap, the back of her head against his chest as he lightly rested his chin on the top of her head. He wrapped his arms around his friend and hugged her, and she hugged back even tighter.  
"I understand if you don't want to talk about it. It's your life and your business, so you talk whenever you're ready. If that's never, then so be it."  
For the first time ever, Sam wanted to talk. She wanted to tell him everything, but she was also very scared. She had never talked about these things with anyone without being forced to do so. She decided that she would reveal some of the truth, and that gradually she would start revealing things to Mikey when the time was right. No one had ever cared until he came along. She felt like her presence was wanted when he was around and that he truly cared about what was wrong with her.  
"I thought I saw my brother tonight, but it turned out to be someone else. From afar that guy really looked like my brother Brian."  
"So you chased after him thinking he came home without telling you?"  
"Yeah, but it wasn't him…I just miss him so much" she said through sobs.  
"I understand. If Leo had disappeared for such a long period of time and then I caught him casually hanging around town, I know I'd lose my cool. I'd have so many questions to ask him, so many things I would just want to scream at him."  
Sam smiled a bit and turned her head around towards him. "Can you take me to my house?"  
"Of course" he replied with a smile.  
"Can you spend the night?" she asked.  
"Sorry, I don't sleep over on the first date" he teased.  
"Asshole," she said as she rolled her eyes and chuckled, something she never thought she'd be able to do in this situation. But that was the power of Michelangelo. Whether she was hurt, hyper, confused, scared, angry, or even hungry, no matter what her attitude was and where her thoughts were sending her, he always brought her back down to earth. It was like he attached a bungee cord to her back and made sure she bounced back up after falling into her well of emotions. Whenever her puzzle pieces broke, he just glued them back together again. Even now at her lowest and weakest moment, he was there. She thought he wouldn't be, and yet here he was, proving her wrong. Now that she realized just how much she wanted and needed to have him by her side, and as she jumped onto his back so that he could carry her home, she mentally vowed that she would never let go of their friendship and that she would keep him as close as possible until she finally felt ready to tell him the complete and honest truth. Not only because of her feeling comfortable enough to do so, but because at that point she would feel safe enough to know he wouldn't leave her alone ever again, not even after hearing of the horrors she had experienced in the past.

 ***Monday June 30** **th** **, Donnie's Lab*  
*Theme:  
Skrux-Escapade* **

Donnie couldn't believe all the equipment Sam had helped him get his hands on. She had asked Jay if he could help her get her hands on any and all old medical equipment that any of his friends could give away because it had broken or had malfunctioned, and her reasoning was that it was for her friends older brother who needed it for some projects because he wanted to become a future medical student himself (which in certain senses was true). Because of this, Donnie had received tons of different equipment that he could only dream of getting his hands on. He now had various medical monitors that could monitor a person's vital signs, lab equipment to analyze things like blood, genes, dissolved gases, etc. He had diagnostic medical equipment, therapeutic devices, the list of devices he had and their uses went on and on. That night Donnie had asked Sam if she wanted to help him set up the med lab now that he had enough equipment to actually get a work station set up, and of course she agreed to join him. As they set devices up around the room, the two talked about multiple different things that Donnie was never able to talk to his brothers about. The two discussed a variety of topics: physics, chemistry, biochemistry, mathematics, biology, psychology, astronomy, microbiology, statistics, sociology, neuroscience, economics, philosophy, history, the list went on and on. Donnie was able to discuss many of these topics amongst his brothers and April, but he had never talked about them quite as in depth as he was now. After hours had flown by, the topics switched away from math and sciences to social studies, and then to religion, and then to literature, and then to music, which then lead them to start talking about more media related topics like modern music, movies, games, etc. They went from talking about video games to then talking about their favorite You Tube gamers.  
"See what I love most about Vanoss is that he's comical like the rest of the guys in the group, but he's the most strategic. For example, whenever he plays Gmod Hide and Seek or Gmod Prop Hunt, he always finds the best hiding spots that people would never think of, but then he messes with their heads when he does things like 'operation bigfoot'" Sam stated as she worked on the wiring of an infusion pump.  
"It's hilarious when he does that. I also love when he literally hides in the walls. He takes advantage of every glitch he can find" Donnie said as he closed a drawer filled with carefully cleaned and maintained surgical instruments.  
"After Vanoss, I'd have to say that Nogla and Delirious are my favorites. I love that they get picked on by their friends in literally every video, but they just roll with it. They can take a joke, and because of that their friends are able to tease the heck out of the two of them, and honestly that just makes the videos even funnier. Do you actually plan on using those tools?" she asked curiously.  
"God I hope not! I've watched a ridiculous amount of videos on what they're used for and how to use them, and I've had some minor experience-"  
"When did you have experience using surgical tools?" Sam cut in, her eyes wide.  
"Ummm, you have to keep it between us, okay?"  
"Got it! Your secret is safe with me!"  
"For the past…I want to say the past 6 years, if I ever found some really beat up strays on the streets, I would do my best to save them. I mean, no one else was going to try and help them, so I thought my help was better than just leaving them to rot in the streets, and I actually helped save each animal that I found."  
Sam titled her head to the side. "Why do I have to keep that a secret?"  
"Because stray animals could have diseases or could be rabid, that and where I found them wasn't always exactly in the shadows. Those two things equal danger, and because of that I knew my brothers and Sensei would never have allowed me to do what I had been doing, so I've been hiding this from them for 6 years now. Yup."  
Sam dramatically held her hand to her chest. "Why Donatello! You, you have a secret that you keep from your family? You're not the innocent nerd that everyone thinks you are?"  
"Ha ha" he said dryly, "I'm still a person, everyone has secrets, even the good kids" he said as he held his hands when quoting 'the good kids.'

Joking aside, he was happy to see Sam cracking jokes again. It had been 5 days since Sam's emotional episode after the basketball game and none of them were sure how to handle the situation. They all wanted to know what had happened, but they knew that coming straight out and asking her questions would get them nowhere. April had told them that letting her talk when she was ready and just acting like everything was normal was the best way to react to the situation, so that's what they did. For two days Sam stayed away from the lair and only left her home when she needed to. The only person she talked to outside of her home was Mikey, and that was only to respond to his occasional updates to make sure she was okay. On day three Sam had asked Mikey to come over to her apartment to hangout that night, and by the next morning she had tried visiting the lair. The boys followed April's advice and acted normally and successfully hid their worry. Because of this, Sam was quickly able to return to her regular routines and habits when hanging out with the guys, including now where she was making sarcastic comments and teasing Donnie.

As the two continued to work and set things up throughout the med wing, Donatello's attention was pulled away from the machine he was working on and was drawn to the small television he had set up in the room (in case anyone were ever so badly injured that they might have to spend a few nights in the room) as the screen displayed a commercial about the latest exhibits at the Natural History Museum. Sam noticed that Donnie had stopped working, and as she looked over at him to make sure that he was alright, she could see in his expression how badly he wanted to visit the museum.  
"What's wrong E.T.? Troubles phoning home?"  
"*sigh* I would love to go there" Donnie replied.  
"Then stop imprinting and go Jacob."  
He turned towards her and gave her an odd look. "To the museum?"  
"Your precious" she said with wide eyes as she ran her fingers against each other. "I volunteer you as tribute, it's your faction as an Erudite."  
"Not possible my friend" he said as he pouted and flopped down in his swivel chair.  
"What, do you go from this to a creepy pointy eared monster with claws? I thought that was only if you ate after midnight."  
"Heh, no, I just doubt that they'll sell tickets to a 6'8 turtle" he chuckled.  
"I find your lack of faith disturbing" she said with a serious tone.  
"And I think you watch to many movies" he replied with a smile.  
"That is extremely true, but not the point! If you want to go to the museum, then let's just go" she said as she started walking towards the exit.  
"You know a way to sneak in?" he asked.  
"Do you know me?" she asked sarcastically.  
"Do you know breaking and entering is illegal?"  
"Do you know how annoying you are?"  
"That's my line."  
"Well I beat you to it which means I win! So FIELD TRIP!" she exclaimed as she practically skipped out of the lab. Donnie laughed and followed the girl. He liked that there was never a dull moment with his new friend and was interested in how their 'field trip' would play out tonight.

Everyone else was in their rooms at the time, so the two just walked out of the lair and up to the rooftops of the buildings above. Of course, since Donnie was one of the more mature of the group, he made sure that he had his shell cell with him in case there was an emergency and his brothers needed to contact him, though he'd be a liar if he said that checking his phone periodically was on his mind once he got to the museum. After they had completed all their needed hacking so that they could sneak into the building, Sam had exposed an entrance from a vent on the roof that lead to the attic storage of the building, and once they had cleared this part of the break in, they were free to explore all the current exhibits that the museum had to offer.

Donnie wasn't sure where to start. They had exhibits on dinosaurs, the latest studies on health and the human body, missions from Earth to other planets, looking through the eyes of Einstein, and so many more.  
Donnie wasn't sure where to begin, but his choice was determined by the teen who was mentally a five year when she wanted to be.  
"Dinosaurs. Let's go to see the dinosaurs. I want to see dinosaurs" Sam said over and over again until finally her friend agreed, and within seconds Sam was rushing over to see the exhibits about the dinosaurs with Donnie following behind her. They learned about how studies have shown that some current bird species may have come from dinosaurs that changed and evolved over tens of millions of years (and of course Sam had to take pictures in the giant modeled nests because, Sam was Sam). The two then moved to the interactive exhibits that discussed the microbiome-where bacteria is living in and on us, how the bacteria's are obtained and how they can offer new perspectives on how to deal with health problems like allergies, asthma, and obesity. Afterwards, they moved on to the next exhibit about foods from around the world. The two learned about how various foods were grown, traded, prepared, etc. They read through some of the first made cook books throughout history and even got to prepare their own virtual meals at the interactive cooking table, and of course the two had fun coming up with the weirdest dishes they could think of.

The two moved on from exhibit to exhibit, looking at everything and participating in every interactive activity they could find. Since they were the only two there, they moved through each exhibit rather quickly, and after a few hours they were ready to leave the museum. Since the two had been talking about scientific research for the past few hours, they decided to talk more casually on their walk home, and while doing so, Donnie noticed Sam staring at his left shoulder.  
"Why don't you take a picture?"  
"…what?" Sam asked with a smile.  
Donnie rolled his eyes. "What are you staring at anyway?"  
"I'm trying to find your tattoo, and I'm failing at doing so."  
His eyes went wide a bit. "You know about that?"  
"Yup!"  
"Let me guess, Mikey?"  
"Yup again!"  
"Tch, you tell each other everything, don't you?"  
"Well, yes and no. We talk about a lot of things, and I think it's safe to say that he knows more about me than anyone else, but we both have our boundaries. For example, he told me there's certain stories about all four of you that will forever stay only between you four. He's made that very clear."  
Donnie laughed. "Well it's good to know he's still the best at keep secrets and people's private lives private." He then looked over and squinted his eyes at his friend when he heard her try to hide a small laugh. "What's so funny?"  
"Nothing" she said as she quickly shook her head and smiled, "just, of course I'm curious as to what happened to you guys that you've all sworn to secrecy that you won't ever tell anyone about it…oh but that could also mean moments where your lives were in danger and that's why you're keeping it secret. Just kidding it's not funny anymore" she said as she made a serious face.  
"Honestly it's a mix of both, but more so things you would find funny, so you're good."  
"Oh? Are you going to be the one to spill the details?" she teased as she nudged him in the side.  
"Heck no! Especially since they're not all about me. All three of my brother's would kill me if I gave away even the smallest amount of information."  
"I guess tattoos aren't part of those secrets then, since they're all extremely visible on all of you, well except for you, but you get the point."  
"Oh, I can show you mine, if you want."  
"Yes. I need proof, especially since you don't seem like someone who would let anything pierce and possibly damage your body."  
"Oh no I hated getting this thing with a burning passion, but I liked that this was a symbol that linked our family together, so I agreed to let Raph make a small print on my shoulder." As he talked, he took of his brown shoulder pad on his left shoulder, revealing a black inked tattoo of a turtle shell that looked to be about the size of his hand.  
Sam chuckled. "Yup, yours is definitely the smallest print" she teased with a smile.  
"Hey! At least I have one! I can take credit for sitting through the pain of getting one!"  
"Did it hurt that bad?"  
"…no, but it makes me look cooler if it seems that I sat through something painful. You know, like I was macho enough to deal with the pain."  
Sam laughed. "Okay one, don't say 'macho' if you want to act cool. Two, I'm pretty sure you were mentally being tortured the entire time you were sitting there, so you still own that badass image from putting up with your own thoughts."  
He nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, I'll take it. So, do you like tattoos?" he asked as he put his shoulder pad back on.  
Sam quickly shook her head.  
"Oh, really?"  
"Yeah, I mean there's nothing wrong with them, and I don't have anything against people that like and have them, I just personally don't care for them. I feel like they can be dangerous if you go somewhere sketchy, and unless I have a specific meaning behind the tattoo I'm getting, I don't think it's worth the pain or the risks of getting one."  
Donnie decided to take a risk when asking his next question. "Do you think you and your siblings would ever get matching tattoos? You know, like how my family has a symbol that unites us. Would you and your siblings ever do that?"  
Sam paused, but Donnie could tell by her facial expressions that her pause was to think about what he had just asked rather than her spacing out from her emotions like she had nights before.  
"Honestly, I can't see ALL my siblings being interested in something like that. We've had matching accessories though. We all had necklaces with an initial pendant attached to the chain. The pendant was black and the initials were in whatever our favorite color was, so my 'S.A.P' was green over black, and it looked awesome!" she exclaimed with a smile.  
Donnie noticed it again, that she was talking about her siblings in the past tense. He so badly wanted to ask her why she had continued this habit, but he saw how happy she was as she talked about her siblings and he didn't want to rob her of her happiness, so instead he continued on with the conversation.

As the two walked back to the lair, they continued to talk about their families and what it was like to have so many siblings. They found it interesting how they had shared so many similar experiences since they were both the second to youngest out of all their siblings. They both experienced being treated as the baby of the group and everyone felt the need to look over them even though they were capable of taking care of themselves, and how even though people treated them like kids (at one time) they were still expected to act like adults at the same time because they had another sibling who was younger than them. They swapped stories back and forth until they got back to the lair, and when they returned to their familiar territory, they decided to keep working on the med lab since they both still had so much energy left. They worked for another couple hours until Sam was so tired that she started losing control of her balance. At that time, Donnie helped her walk back to his lab where he had his spare bed. He didn't have to worry about her being comfortable since she collapsed on the bed as soon as she saw it, and within seconds she was sound asleep. Donnie covered her with a blanket and left her to sleep.

As he walked back to his room, he reminisced about everything he had learned at the museum, but then suddenly his mind reminded him of the night that Sam had entered his lab when, at the time, he didn't want her taking one step in his lab aka his sacred space. He remembered how furious he was that she had snuck into the lab and how he acted towards her, and how upset she was because she thought that he hated her (and at that time, she wasn't wrong.) The memory dropped a lot of guilt on the turtle's shoulders. He felt horrible that he ever treated her that way, especially after days like today where she was the only person who could connect with him in ways that the rest of his family couldn't. There was one thing that cheered him up though, and that was how his attitude and actions towards the girl had changed over time. The night of his memory where he stated that he didn't hate her, those words were the first 'nice' things he had ever said to her, and that same night he vowed that he would at least attempt to treat her better, not only for her sake, but also in respect for Mikey, since Sam and Mikey had obviously become very close friends even that early on. Donnie smiled as he thought of all the happier moments that not only he, but that all his brother's had shared with Sam. He was glad that she didn't give up on them and that she kept finding ways to get them to talk to her, like the night she had tricked Leo into getting upset and making her fight with Raph, and he was glad that he and his brother's had all eventually tried to get along with and try to get to know the girl as well. As time went on, she became more like a sister to the boys rather than just a friend, and Donnie was grateful to have her around as the newest addition to their family.

 ***Wednesday July 2** **nd** *****

It was around 1 a.m. when Mikey felt a presence enter his room. He had been sleeping on his right side and was facing the wall, so he couldn't see who it was that had entered his room and shut the door, but he had a good idea that he knew who it was: Sam. He continued to lie still though, just in case it wasn't her. He couldn't list how many times his brother's had snuck into his room to pull pranks on him at all hours of the day and night, but it was okay since he had done the same to all of them, but he was also staying still in case it happened to be a burglar from the Foot clan. Ever since the Foot had found their first home, the boys were always on edge when they heard noises at times when it was completely silent.

As he lie still and thought of who it might have been that entered his room, he felt the motion of someone crawl into bed with him. They didn't touch him or move around much, they just got into the bed and lie still underneath the covers. By this time he was pretty confident that it was just Sam who had fallen asleep on the couch earlier, so he paid no mind to this, not until he heard a light sob. It was silent after that, but a few minutes later he heard it again. It sounded like she was crying but fighting her hardest not to let it be known.

Mikey quickly turned on the small lamp next to his bed and turned over to see that it was Sam who had crawled into his bed. She was laying on her left side so that their backs had been facing each other.  
"Sam…Sam, why are you crying?" he asked gently.  
She didn't speak, but instead shook her head to show that she didn't want to talk.  
Mikey knew that was total bull and knew that there was something she wanted him to know, or else she would have gone somewhere to hide and be alone rather than come straight to his room. Knowing this, he carefully pulled her towards him. He lay down and held her from behind, his arms wrapped protectively around her.  
"Does it have anything to do with you thinking you saw your brother the other day?"  
She paused and then slowly nodded her head. "I had a dream about him. It felt real, and then I woke up…" she couldn't speak since tears had begun to pour out from her eyes again.  
Mikey held onto her a bit tighter. His heart hurt as he listened to his friend quietly cry for the longest time. She was always so happy and full of smiles whenever they were together, which made seeing her this way, so broken and emotionally torn down, so difficult and heartbreaking for him.  
"I can't say I understand what you're going through, because I've always had my brothers by my side, but I can say that I know I'd be lost without them. Having the people that have always been a room away suddenly disappear for so long would emotionally and mentally kill me. I'm so, so sorry you've been alone for so long, but we won't let you feel that way ever again, I'll never let you feel that way ever again."  
As soon as the words left his lips, Sam turned over and lay down facing him, her face now buried in his chest. A small smile appeared on Mikey's face as he continued to hold his friend close, one hand resting against her back and the other gently running through the girl's hair. He let his chin lightly rest on top of her head as he heard her sobs slowly fade out. He held her close until he knew for sure that she had drifted off to sleep, and once he knew that she was okay, he finally allowed himself to fall asleep as well.

He knew that he could never replace her brothers that were now living far away because he knew that no one would ever be able to replace his brothers if they ever moved far away. Still, he wanted to do everything he could to see Sam smile instead of frown, to see her laugh instead of cry, to see her fall asleep because she had had an exhausting day of fun activities instead of falling asleep from her tears. He vowed that he would stay by his best friend's side as much as he possibly could, not to replace her brother, but to help bring back the fun and joyful memories that she had of spending time with him, and to create new memories that would help tuck away the all the bad ones.


	18. Chapter 18

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #18

 ***Friday July 4** **th** **, Dance Hall, Stage Area*  
*Themes:  
Mike Perry ft. Shy Martin-The Ocean  
Cash Cash ft. Sofia Reyes-How To Love  
Jonas Blue ft. RAYE-By Your Side***

The turtles were hiding in the walkway area above the rows and rows of seats that filled the auditorium of the dance hall. They watched as Sam was finishing up her final performance. Tonight was a big night for everyone who was part of the huge and competitive program since multiple scouts for various reasons were here. Some were here to recruit college students and offer scholarships so that they would perform with teams at their university, some were here to look for back up performers for upcoming musicals, music videos, commercials, etc. and some were even here to look for possible trainees for upcoming boy and/or girl singing and dancing groups. The turtles expected to see Sam in at least a few different performances, since there were tons of people that worked in different areas of the program and there were so many different genres of music that were used when the groups performed, but so far Sam had been in every performance that night. She went from performing the most elegant and poised dances in more slow passionate songs to then performing the most energetic dance moves in much more upbeat songs. She had solos, performed in duets, and even in various larger sized groups. She danced to all types of music with all types of people, and she never missed a beat once. Family and friends were allowed to attend the performances to cheer on their loved ones, and whenever the turtles heard it get silent during Sam's moments in the spotlight, the silence ended quickly as they cheered as loud as they could for their friend, which would instantly put a smile on Sam's face while she was on stage.

Once all the performances were officially over, the turtles quickly and quietly traveled to the spot in the building where Sam had instructed them to meet her. It took a while, but eventually Sam met up with them in the designated spot.  
"Geez, what took so long?" Raph annoyingly asked.  
"Sorry, I had hella scouts talking to me about various upcoming opportunities, including some for the university I hope to attend, so of course I wasn't passing up the opportunity to talk to them" Sam said with a huge smile on her face.  
"You're fine Sam," Leo said as he nudged his brother's arm, resulting in Raph scowling at him, "so, where are we heading tonight?"  
"Yeah, now that it's 10 o'clock" Raph said before he was shoved by Mikey, who he then chased after as well.  
"Well, a lot of people are heading to specific spots of town for fireworks, so that means a lot of family owned shops are closed down, and that means we can go have fun" she said merrily.  
Leo and Donnie smiled at her. "Well, lead the way" Leo said as he crouched down and cupped his hands in front of him so that he could give a boost and help her exit through the vent-ways that he and his brothers had entered the building through. Donnie then followed behind Sam and Leo, and once the remaining two brothers realized they were alone, they also quickly exited the room as well.

As the group traveled along the roof top, Mikey thought that the direction they were heading in seemed familiar. Finally, he remembered why it seemed so familiar.  
"Oh! Are we heading to the place you took me the first time we hung out?!" he called out.  
Sam turned towards him and gave him a big smile as she nodded at him.  
"Oh, so now we get to see where Sam and Mikey shared their rebellious phases together" Donnie teased.  
"I don't know what you're talking about. We're good kids" Sam said with a comical expression.  
"Totally, we look both ways before we cross the street" Mikey added with the same expression.  
"And we eat all our vegetables"  
"And we help old ladies with their groceries"  
"And we complete all our homework." The two continued this back and forth conversation, playfully nudging each other as they talked.  
"And we floss and brush twice a day"  
"And we wash behind our ears"  
"And you stole from us, hid from us, lied to us, and then snuck around behind our backs!" Raph said as he pushed his way past the two and then threw his arms around the duo.  
Sam gave him an annoyed look. "Why you gotta bring up the past like that?"  
"Ahhh because those were the good times where I got to kick your ass" he said with a smirk.  
"Pshh, she kept up with you each time, you didn't kick anything" Mikey teased.  
"Well, I can kick something right now" Raph said as he put Mikey in a headlock and the two, once again, went back to fighting.  
Sam stared at the two and then shrugged. As she turned to catch up with the other two brothers she then smiled and took off running. "We're here!" she exclaimed. "Ohhh I've always wanted to do this with a group" she said excitedly.  
"You do realize Mikey cares about skateboarding a million times more than the rest of us, right?" Donnie asked.  
"Who said we were here for skateboarding?" she said with a grin. She and Donnie had already disabled and altered any and all security systems on the way, so now they could open the vents and climb on through.

The boys all followed Sam for a few minutes until finally she stopped, kicked out the vent cover below her, and then hopped down. The boys followed behind her and instantly huge smiles grew on all of their faces.  
"This makes a lot more sense" Leo said as he looked at the laser tag equipment in front of him.  
"Ahem! We have to watch the safety video first" Sam said as she pointed towards a small room off towards the side.  
"Are you serious?" Raph asked.  
"I want the full laser tag experience, and that includes learning about laser tag safety. It takes like five minutes, be a man and deal with it" she said sternly.  
Raph rolled his eyes as his brothers all chuckled at Sam's comment, and they all walked in and sat in the chairs in the small room. Leo sat in a chair on the far side of the room, and then Donnie sat, then Raph, and then Mikey left an open space for his friend and then he took a seat. Sam got the t.v. set up in the front of the room and then ran back to her seat. The video went on to explain the basics: the rules of the game, how the equipment was to be worn and used, how the course was set up, reasons why people shouldn't play, etc. The video then mentioned that those who think they might be pregnant shouldn't play. Raph smirked and leaned over towards Sam and whispered in her ear "any chance that you're pregnant?" Sam knew that Raph was purposefully trying to mess with her, which was something he did well, so she gave him a taste of his own medicine when she smiled and whispered back "nu-uh, how about you?" Both Mikey and Donnie heard this and they both slapped a hand to their mouths so that they wouldn't laugh out loud. Raph then slapped them both on the back of the head, and Leo, who had missed whatever it was that was so funny, just rolled his eyes and decided he didn't even want to know. He then stood up once the video was over.  
"Alright, so how do we decide on teams?"  
"Me, Mikey, and Donnie vs. you and Raph" Sam said without hesitating.  
"I like this grouping" Donnie chimed in.  
"Wait, why do you get to pick the teams? Who made you the leader?" Raph asked.  
"What, you two aren't man enough to defend yourselves on your own?" Sam asked with an evil grin.  
Leo and Raph paused and then turned to face each other, both squinting their eyes in frustration.  
"You know, I'm really starting to hate how she does that" Leo stated.  
"Heh, welcome to the club" Raph replied.  
"Great! So teams have been decided, let's suit up!"  
The equipment consisted of shoulder pads that connected to a chest and back pad (each was a target) that had to be pulled over top the person's head, and then a buckle had to be secured at both the left and right sides. At the bottom of the front pad was a chord that connected to the gun that was then used to shoot at other targets.  
Sam and Donnie were able to wear the regular sized gear since they were the thinnest out of their group, and they quickly put their green colored gear on. As they turned to meet back up with the others, they laughed as they saw the others struggling to get their gear on, since their larger muscle sized bodies were a bit too big to wear the regular sized equipment.  
"Guys, they have suits that are meant for people on the larger side, you just have to look at the end of the rack" Sam said as she nodded her head towards the end of the row, where there were tons of suits that were meant for more fluffy or more muscular sized people.  
The three paused and then fake laughed as they walked over towards the larger sized equipment, feeling silly for struggling from putting on the wrong sized equipment.

Once everyone was finally ready to go, the two teams walked over towards their sides of the room. Leo and Raph walked over towards the far side of the room with their orange colored gear, and Donnie, Mikey, and Sam stood near the entrance on their green side of the room. Suddenly, a voice come across the speaker which was part of the game, and it counted them down to get started. _"3…2…1…BEEP"_ and the members from each group scattered.

Raph, expectedly, used a very fast paced approach and instantly starting running towards the opposing team and started shooting at them. Of course he and Mikey started rough housing and the two were on each other's backs, and right now Raph was winning, until he realized that his back pad kept lighting up. That's when he realized that someone had been shooting at him from afar. Raph turned and Mikey went to follow, but just then he ran out of ammo.  
"*gasp* oh no! I'll be back!" he said as he ran off towards the charging station.  
Meanwhile, Raph walked over towards where the shots had been coming from. He then found a dorky Sam slowly and awkwardly crawling on the ground.  
"What kind of crawl is that? You look like a slug" he said as he gave her an odd look.  
"Well, it was working up until now" Sam said as she tried to quickly turn over onto her back, but Raph was already shooting at her. Unfortunately, he had used up the majority of his shots on Mikey, and by the time he realized he was out of ammo, Sam had already stood up. Raph retreated and was followed by Sam who continued to keep shooting at him. Just then, Sam's shoulder pads started lighting up. She looked up and saw Leo shooting at her from on top of the obstacles in the room.  
"Hey that's cheating! You're not allowed to shoot from up there!" Sam called out with a smile.  
Leo hopped down. "Then why was it okay for Donnie to do it?" he asked.  
"Simple. Donnie's on my team" Sam said as she closed her eyes and gave him a large smile.  
"Awww that's messed up" Leo said as he smiled and shook his head as he walked towards her. "You're going to pay for that," and with that he pulled up the laser tag gun and began shooting at her.  
Sam laughed as she took off running and Leo chased her, but then Michelangelo was now standing behind Leo and was shooting at him while Leo kept shooting at Sam.  
Out of nowhere, Raph then did the most awkward roll any of them had ever seen. Mikey was laughing so hard that he was distracted and couldn't focus his aim, but luckily Donnie had joined back up with him and was helping to defend Sam.  
"Dude, what the heck was that?" Leo asked with a laugh.  
"I don't know why, but it's impossible for me to be a ninja with this gear." Right after he said this, he noticed Sam sneaking away using her awkward snail crawl again. Raph smirked and then ducked back. He ran off and Leo ran behind him for a bit before splitting up and running off in a different direction. Now that Raph momentarily had no one behind him, he carefully creeped back over to where he saw Sam crawling off to. He then got down on his stomach and army crawled over to where Sam was hiding. When Sam saw the lights from her shoulder pads go off, she quickly turned around to see Raph crawling behind her.  
"These are the benefits pf army crawls!" he shouted.  
Just then, Donnie jumped on top of Raph and pinned him to the ground. "And this is what happens when the snail lures in the prey!" he said as he continued to shoot at Raph's chest pad.  
Once his bullets ran out, Donnie ran off back towards his base, but just then the alarm went off, signaling who had won that round.  
 _"Winner…orange team."  
_ "Ha! Who's the prey now?" Raph exclaimed as Donnie helped pull him off the ground.  
"At least we didn't body slam into the ground each time we rolled" Donnie teased.  
"Dude I seriously don't know how to function in this equipment" Raph said with a laugh.  
"New round!" Sam exclaimed as she ran by the two, pulling on Donnie's arm in the process. "Come on! We need to strategize! Where's Mikey?!"  
"Right hereeee!" he said as he practically skipped over towards his best friend. "Bruh, thanks for having my back at that last part. Sorry for not warning you about Raph, he snuck away from us."  
"It's all good, we just need to come up with a counterattack in case he sneaks off again" Sam replied.  
"Oh! I have a plan!" Donnie said and the three stood in a huddle.  
Raph smiled as he walked back towards his side of the room. "Did we strategize at all last round?" Raph asked Leo when they met back up at the orange start point.  
"Nope. We winged that whole thing, just went with the flow. But don't tell them that or else they'll lose their motivation to huddle up and work together, and they're having fun in their little group over there. This is like a videogame to Mikey, so he can actually keep up with what Donnie is saying, and Donnie is enjoying that he can actually strategize and plan with his teammates."  
"Heh, well let's see how well their strategies work this round" Raph said as he held his hand up for a fist bump to which Leo completed.

" _3…2…1…BEEP"_ and round two began. Leo and Raph both ran in opposite directions and hid behind the tall colorful posts along the wall, waiting for a good moment for them to strike. Just then, Leo saw Mikey run right past him, and Raph saw Donnie run right past him as well. Both older brothers jumped out and started shooting at their younger brothers, wide smiles growing on their faces while their scores grew higher and higher. The two were so distracted by their siblings that they completely forgot to look out for Sam until they saw the large orange post lighting up behind them back at their base. The two brothers then began quickly trailing back to their side of the room while still trying to defend themselves against their youngest brothers who now had large smiles forming on their own faces as they witnessed their plan quickly change which team had the higher score. Donnie chased after Raph, but Mikey stayed further back. Soon both Sam and Donnie ran out of ammo, but since they were all standing by the orange teams base, Raph and Leo quickly got a full round loaded and they began shooting at their opponents as the two ran away back towards their base. Now that the tables were turned, the two oldest were now chasing rather than defending, that was until Mikey leaped out of nowhere and began defending his teammates. He ran out of ammo quickly and also had to retreat back to his base, but by then Sam and Donnie had reloaded and were now chasing Leo and Raph again. Using this tactic, the green team eventually won the round and cheered after doing so.  
"Yeahhhhhh! That's what I'm talking about!" Mikey shouted as he high fived his teammates.  
"I'm surprised this worked as well as it did" Donnie said with a smile on his face. "Of course, we have to come up with something different this time or else they'll catch on and create a new tactic to stop us."  
"Hmmmm, let's try something similar to what we just did and see if it works. How about one person run towards one of their opponents while the other two hang back. Then after a few seconds, a second person run out, but instead of running towards the other opponent, just stay on the same side as the first runner" Sam said.  
"Ohhhh, so dupe them into thinking that we're doing the same thing as last time, but the first two draw them both to one side of the room, and then the third person runs down the opposite side once it's completely clear" Mikey replied.  
"Bingo!" Sam said.  
"Sounds good to me, I say Mikey should be the first runner and that he should run at Leo. No offense to Raph, but I feel like we can dupe him due to him wanting to jump in and be the hero. If he sees that Leo needs help and that a second runner runs towards him, I feel that Raph is more likely to quickly jump in and add brawn to the fight before standing back and thinking about the strategy behind the situation. Plus you and I will be much quicker at running up and past the others" Donnie added.  
"Agreed. How about you?" Sam asked as she faced Mikey.  
"Ditto" he replied with a smile.

" _3…2…1…BEEP"_ and just like that, their plan was set into action. Leo and Raph both assumed the same positions as last time, and Mikey ran towards Leo on the left side of the room. He was instantly spotted and the two began firing shots at each other. Just as they expected, Raph stayed put and waited for someone to run towards him again, but like they planned, Sam ran along the left side towards Leo, and once he realized that his brother was about to be outnumbered, he started heading towards the middle of the room to help aide his brother. What the green team wasn't expecting was for Raph to plant himself in the middle of the room. He shot at Sam from much further than she had anticipated, and because of this, it was harder for Donnie to run past his older brother without getting shot at. Leo quickly picked up on this and also started heading towards the middle of the room, making it more difficult for any of the three members on the opposing team to run past them without taking a lot of damage along the way. Because of this, the orange team won this round, and the green team huddled up to come up with another new strategy.  
"Alright, approaches where we try to charge one or two at a time aren't working" Mikey said with his hands on his hips.  
"We need bait," Sam stated, "something that will separate those two from each other. It's hard getting past them when they're practically side by side, but if they're split up, then it's easier to score points against them."  
"I have an idea" Donnie said. "We're going to do the same thing we just did, but I'm going to be the second runner. Sam, you'll know when to go out and help Mikey."  
"Heh, this will be interesting" Sam said with a grin.

" _3…2…1…BEEP"_ and that fast Mikey took off running towards Leo. He even saw Leo roll his eyes at the same tactic being used once again. Raph had already started walking towards the center of the room, and he thought he knew what to do when he saw Donnie charging towards him, but he was caught off guard when he saw Donnie randomly cut towards the right side. Raph turned on his heel, but Donnie was hiding very well. Raph carefully walked forward, but then Donnie leaped up and trailed back some, and then cut to the left. Raph quickly chased after Donnie, assuming he was heading back over towards Leo, but instead Donnie had was leading Raph all over the arena. By the time Raph had realized what his younger brother's strategy was, it was too late. _"Winner, green team"_ the electronic speaker announced. Raph groaned as he heard the green team members cheering at the top of their lungs.  
"Hey, what happened to you out there?" Leo asked as he met back up with Raph on their side of the room.  
"Ahhh, I got so wrapped up in trailing Donnie that I didn't realize he was just leading me in circles" Raph replied groggily.  
"They got us good that time. We were so used to them trying to sneak past us, we didn't expect them to them to bring us along with them as they snuck by us. While you were distracted they went back to attacking me one at a time while another aimed for our base. This time we're both going to hang back more" Leo stated.  
Raph nodded his head in response and soon the next round started.

The group played multiple rounds of laser tag, and each time a team lost, they figured out how to win the next round. The winning streak went back and forth so many times that both teams decided to end the night in a truce, each complimenting the other on the abilities they had demonstrated throughout the fun battle. It was a few minutes to midnight when they all decided to head back home.  
"Man, laser tag is super fun!" Sam exclaimed as she jumped down from the vent opening on the top of the building.  
"You and Donnie sure are a scary combination though," Raph teased. "Every time we thought we had you guys figured out, you always found a new way to sneak by us."  
"Heyyyy, I helped strategize to!" Mikey moped. "I told you videogames and activities like this were my strong suit" he said as he crossed his arms and stood tall and proud.  
"Surprisingly, Mikey did come up with a lot of creative ideas." Donnie reassured.  
"You'd never know this was the same guy who didn't know the difference between there, their, and they're" Raph teased with a mocking smile.  
"I kept thinking they all meant the same thing!"  
"Or that pterodactyl started with the P sound" Leo said with a smirk.  
"How was I supposed to know it was silent?!"  
"Or that 1+3 equals B" Donnie said with a chuckle.  
"I thought you were asking me a trick question!"  
"Heh, funny hearing all this come from the guy who thought duct tape was spelled like the animal, the guy who has trouble saying 'prescription,' and the guy who accidentally blurted out that 10 times 2 equals 100" Sam said with a sarcastic smile.  
"HA!" Mikey shouted.  
"Ugh! Why does Sensei keep telling you things about us?" Raph said as he rubbed the side of his head.  
"It's really tough to pronounce…" Leo mumbled.  
"I was under pressure, and I was just thinking the wrong thing since I heard times two and so I thought of ten times ten, I knew the correct answer but I got ahead of myself because Sensei was testing me-" Donnie rambled on.  
"I accidentally wrote it wrong on my paper, literally like one time! I didn't realize what I was doing until after Sensei collected our homework" Raph mumbled.  
"Hehe, this is great" Mikey said as he looked over at his friend with a smile.  
"You're welcome" she replied with a chuckle.  
Just then some type of explosion went off in the air behind where the two were standing. It startled Sam so much that she literally jumped and would have stumbled backwards if Mikey hadn't grabbed her arm and helped her keep her balance.

 ***Theme  
Begin-BTS/Jungkook  
Lost My Way-BTS  
Interlude:WINGS-BTS**

The two turned around to see what it was that had made such a noise and the two were amused to see that there were some late night fireworks going off for the 4th of July.  
"WHOA! They're so pretty!" Sam shouted. She walked over to the rail at the side of the roof and held on and she stood as close as the rail allowed for her to view the fireworks.  
"You act like you're never seen fireworks before. The four of us haven't always had the best view, but even we have seen fireworks" Mikey said as he walked over and stood next to his friend.  
"I've seen them before, but it's been awhile since I've actually been outside and watched them go off. I loved watching them go off when I was a kid, but usually I just listen to them from my room and maybe later that night I would watch them on t.v." she stated as she continued to look up to the sky in awe.  
The remaining brothers walked over and stood along the rail and also looked up in awe at the fireworks display. Like Mikey had stated, they knew what fireworks were and had watched them before, but it was always from a storm drain in the middle of a crowded street. This was their first times watching the fireworks go off without anything blocking their view, and the fact that they were so high up made the view look even more spectacular.  
As the brothers watched the fireworks, they each thought the same thing to themselves. It had been a couples weeks over a month that Sam had been allowed to openly visit the lair whenever she wanted to, and that fast each of the brothers had shared incredibly fun and memorable moments with the girl that none of them ever thought they would based on how they met her.  
Leo thought back to how he couldn't stand her sneaking around and how that could put Mikey and the rest of their family in danger, and how now they were using her crafty skills to help them when patrolling the city. Raph reflected on how much he just wanted to fight her whenever she mad a sly remark or did something that frustrated him and his brothers, whether it was really something frustrating or just something simple and stupid that ticked them off because it was her who did it, and how now he loved sparring with her and working out with her by his side. Donnie remembered all the times where Sam seemed to be a bad influence on Mikey, like when she was the reason his brother had lied to his face about what he was taking from his lab an why, and how now Sam's influence actually seemed to help Mikey think more logically in certain battle situations (not always, but there was some noticeable difference, but nothing major. Mikey would always be Mikey and nothing was ever going to change that) and how Sam was now allowed to walk right on into his lab and take whatever she wanted because of how comfortable the two had become. Mikey had always been kind to Sam, but he reminisced more so on how his brothers reacted when they saw Sam enter the lair now compared to the past. Whenever she entered the lair back in late May, the room was silent and everyone seemed to disappear because no one but Mikey and Splinter wanted anything to do with Sam. Now however, when Sam entered the room each brother had to patiently wait their turn to complete whatever activity or hobby it was they completed with her.

And then there was Sam, who also was secretly thinking about all that had changed since she had been allowed to freely enter the lair. She was so grateful to each of the four turtles that was standing around her. Each one of them brought back a piece of her life that she had lost a few years ago. It was such a short time ago when her life had changed for the worst, yet it felt like it had been so much longer ago because of how much she had suffered alone. But that was the number one thing that had changed, she wasn't alone anymore. She had come to find out that each of the brothers were easy to talk to casually about literally anything, and she was always either training or watching sports or playing videogames or doing something with the brothers as a whole, and there were now tons of activities that she completed with either the brothers individually (meditating, exercising, coding, or skateboarding just to name a few) or in groups, like when she taught Leo and Raph to cook, or worked on the van with Donnie and Raph, or would organize different parts of the lair with Leo and Donnie (who both loved organization as much as life itself). Because of all of this, she was never truly alone anymore. She never worried about when Jay would finally get to come home so that she would have some company, she never cared about what all the other kids at school were doing while she was sitting around at home every night, and overall she was never upset anymore. Her saddened thoughts from lonely weekends had now turned into cheerful moments with her new friends on what had now become a daily basis.

Sam's presence affected the brothers as much as their influence had affected her. Each was shining light on something that the others life was missing. Sam had reunited with aspects of her life back that she had lost years ago, and the brothers now had bonds with someone who had similarities and interests with them that their brothers didn't always understand. Everyone was happy with how their lives were going, and none of them wanted anything to change. But, as much as they loved how life was now, none of them knew that things would change much quicker than any of them had anticipated.

 ***Friday July 18** **th** **, (2 weeks later)***

Mikey was in the dojo with Sam. The other brothers had gone out earlier before the two had returned back from the lair, and until they were told they were needed, the two decided to continue with why they had left in the first place. For weeks now, Sam had been working on a project that might help her gain some 'strength' that would help her keep up with the turtles in ways that she physically could not on her own. She had been working on a battery powered glove with a vacuum powerful enough to move objects or even deflect them.

She had tested multiple different designs and she had finally found one that seemed to work. The glove extended all the way from her finger tips to a mid-point along her arm. From her wrist to her mid-arm on top was a blue plastic covering, which was connected to a black thick but leathery material underneath. Built into the plastic covering on top was an old phone she was able to buy cheap at a pawn shop. She had re-wired it and had basically created her own personal app on the phone that connected to and was used as a control panel for the lithium iron battery that powered the vacuum piece, since this battery would help keep the device working without the battery dying out to early on. This control panel could be used for things such as setting how much air she wanted to be either pulled in or pushed away from her. There was a blue plastic covering around her wrist, which also had some black leathered material webbed in the creases so that she could still move her wrist, that was a little thicker with wires inside that ran inside the thicker material and connected to a square piece at the bottom of her wrist that plugged into a rectangular piece that was attached to the black leathery material covering her palm. There were two buttons along the side of the rectangular piece. The top one was what made the air suck in, and the bottom one was what made air fly out. On this rectangular piece were two holes. Along with their corresponding buttons, the top hole was used for sucking in air, and the bottom hole was for pushing air away from her.

"Alright, what do you need me to do?" Mikey asked his friend, excited to finally test out the cool new gadget that Sam had made.  
"For now just get something really small, something that's thin and light. That will be used for our first of many tests" she said as she started getting her glove set up.  
Mikey found some empty water bottles in the recycling bin in the other room and brought them over. He placed one in the middle of the dojo and Sam stood so that she was about 20 yards away from it. She set the glove so that the most amount of air pressure would come out when she pressed the bottom button. Mikey made sure to stand off to the side, just to be safe, and he watched as his friend pulled her arm back, and pushed down on the button in her palm as she threw her arm forward. A tremendous amount of air was pushed forward and the empty bottle was thrown forward as it slammed into the wall.  
Mikey's jaw dropped, and as he turned towards Sam, he saw that she had the exact same expression on her face.  
"Whoa! That was awesome!" he exclaimed with a smile as he walked over towards her.  
"I know. I hoped that it would work, but I never expected it to be so powerful on the first try, especially with the type of battery I'm using."  
"You need to explain what that means" he said casually as he nodded his head.  
Sam chuckled at his comment. "Most people use lithium ion batteries to power devices where they want huge amount of power, like the power my glove just displayed, but those batteries also die out very quickly. Knowing this, I decided to use a lithium iron battery, which in many ways is similar, but it can hold a charge for much longer and can sometimes be a bit weaker in how much power can be produced. The battery I'm using is typically used in most of today's smart phones, so I never expected it to exert such power as it just did…do you know what this means?" she asked as she turned towards her friend.  
His curious face turned into one of excitement as the wheels in his head turned. "We get to keep flinging stuff around to test it out?"  
"BINGO!" Sam shouted.  
The two high fived and then searched throughout the lair for various objects of different sizes and weights that Sam could test her glove on.  
They started with softer objects like blankets and pillows, and then slowly moved up to harder and larger objects. She moved pots and pans used for cooking, small desk lamps, and even chairs. The two then went out and found some construction materials they had set up at the various locations throughout the sewer that they had been fixing up. They brought back piles and piles of wooden boards and concrete bricks and then started to set them up for her to try out. They piled the boards and bricks, and every time they made the pile higher, she was still able to knock it over. They then started testing how far away Sam could stand from the objects and still be able to push them away. The dojo was about 50 yards in both width and length (the lair in total was quite a huge space for being buried underneath the city) and Sam was able to determine that she could move small and light objects from at least 50 yards away, and heavier objects from about 30 yards away (though she had to be much closer to the heavier objects if she wanted them to move greater distances). Eventually, Sam then tested her device in bringing objects towards her. She discovered that the distances for pushing objects away from her was the same as when pulling them towards her, and that light objects flew towards her extremely fast, but heavier objects traveled at a ridiculously slow pace, but they still moved towards her. The heavier objects moved a bit quicker when within that 30 yard radius though.  
"Hey, can you help me set up some pillows and cushions along the opposite wall real quick?" Sam asked.  
"Yeah sure, but why?" Mikey asked.  
"I'm going to try some tests and see if I can push myself on my skateboard by solely using the power from the vacuum pack on my glove. But if something goes wrong, it would be nice to have something blocking me from ramming straight into the wall, hehe" she said as she nervously rubbed the back of her head.  
"Tsk tsk, and you think that some pillows will be good enough to protect you?" Mikey asked teasingly, "we need a better barrier."  
"And what would you suggest Mr. Cowabunga?" she asked, tilting her head and smiling.  
"Helmet, knee and elbow pads, and shin and wrist guards, and thank you for asking Ms. Booyakasha" he said in a sarcastic tone.  
"Ummm, do you have any of those items in my size?"  
"I do actually. We don't really get rid of anything but rather just move things around. Sensei likes to keep things as keepsakes since we're kind of his only family, heh. So, we actually have a space where all our old clothes are, so stay here and I'll grab you some of our old gear."

He returned back within five minutes, and in another fifteen they had Sam all suited up. She stood on her skateboard and adjusted her device so that it was on a much lower setting. Sam was about 110 lbs, and on the lowest setting, the device had her moving forward at a walking speed. For the next half hour, she tested how fast she traveled as she slowly increased the speed of the air pushing out of the device each time she tested it out. She was actually able to take her tests to a pretty high setting before thinking that it would be too dangerous to continue testing the device in a confined area like this.

"Looks like all that time you spent creating the perfect design and thinking over every complication really worked" Mikey said with a smile.  
"It did, and now this opens up even more opportunities for me to adjust this device" she replied with a beaming smile.  
"How so?"  
"For one, one day when we're not in a confined area like this, I can test how fast I can really travel with this device, and that can affect my movement on missions with you guys. I can also test to see if I can provide a gust of wind strong enough to deflect punches or even to cut into other objects. This is incredible! Man I wish my siblings could try this out, they would love something like this. They would joke around about how it would make them feel like they were in an action movie. Especially Jay, he still dreams of being an actor, so when I finally introduce this to him he'll act like he was stopping a criminal on a dangerous chase or something, haha" she said as she walked away and went to put her glove away, thinking that they had gone through enough tests for one night.

While Sam was walking away, Mikey couldn't stop thinking about the way Sam had just worded her sentence. _"They would love…they would joke…they were in…"_ is how she spoke when talking about her siblings, but then she said _"he still dreams…he'll act…"_ when talking about Jay. He and his brothers had talked about this before, and none of them knew why she spoke like this. He wondered if his friend even realized that she had been talking this way. He knew that it was wrong to question and invade someone's personal space, but it was killing him to know that his friend was hurting and that there was nothing he could do about it. He remembered how broken she was when she thought she saw Brian, and how she had cried the night she had a dream about him nights later. He wanted to ask her about her family, but he was terrified to do so. He didn't want to pry and make her think that she couldn't trust him and turn away from him instead. He took a deep breath and decided that he would carefully try to talk to her, but he would instantly back off if she made it clear that she didn't want to talk.

"Hey Sam, there's something I've been wanting to ask you, but I totally understand and respect if you don't want to talk to me about it." Mikey said to his friend nervously.  
Sam had just put her glove away in her bag at the entry way into the dojo. She paused as she was zipping her bag up and then calmly responded to her friend. "Yeah sure, what's up?" she asked, afraid that she had done something to upset him.  
"Why…why do you talk about Jay in the present tense…but refer to the rest of your family in the past tense?" he asked as he stared at her without looking away anywhere else, wanting to show that he truly cared and wasn't asking to be childish and just get the dirt on her past.  
Sam stood up and paused. She thought back to what she had just said about her siblings and how they would react to testing out her device, and her eyebrows rose up in shock as she realized that Mikey was correct in what he had just asked her.  
"Huh, I honestly didn't realize I was doing that. Do I do that a lot?"  
"To be completely honest, you do that every time you ever talk about your siblings" Mikey said with a serious yet concerned expression.  
She then gave him a small smile as she turned towards him. "You've been worried about that for a while now haven't you?"  
"…not to be weird or anything, but yeah. I just want to know what happened so that I can support you, you know? Like if anything triggers bad memories, I know to help prevent those memories from coming back, stuff like that. I just want to help you, but I don't want you to tell me anything unless you feel 110% completely comfortable in doing so. I want you to feel like you can trust me with your life before you decide to-"  
"Okay" Sam cut in.  
"…what does that mean?" Mikey asked.  
She gave him a soft smile. "It means that I trust you with my life and will tell you about my past. But if you tease me for being emotional-"  
"I'd never do that, I swear. If anything ever makes you upset I promise I'll comfort you and never EVER tease you about it" he said with seriousness in his tone.  
Sam really appreciated that her usually goofy friend could be so calm and reassuring. She loved that he could act mature and not just crack jokes all the time.  
"*sigh* alright, I'll briefly start from the beginning. Because of past generations, my father and Jay's birth father grew up as best friends, and their wives were coincidentally friends before they met our fathers as well, so when they got married, we all were like one big happy family. His parents were like and uncle and aunt to me, and mine to him, and all us kids saw each other as cousins because of how close our families were. Sadly, in 2006, his parents were involved in a car crash. There were some foot clan members who were speeding away from a robbery, and his parent's car was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were hit head on and soon after, they lost their lives. I was 8 at that time, and because of his parents will, Brian, Jay, Amber, and Jamie were to be sent to live with us, and because of how much my parents cared for them and didn't want to lose them, they adopted all four of them, making them our newest families members by law. We protected them from what they had experienced, until two years later when my parents experienced the same fate. My parents were having a date night and as they were walking to their car, they were attacked and killed. Then it was the oldest siblings turn to protect and comfort the younger ones. It was very difficult for all of us, and to make it worse, there was a huge chance we were all going to be split up in foster homes because none of us had legal guardians anymore. Luckily, Jamie and Amber were legal adults aged 21 and 19, and though Jay was only 17 at the time, he was a freshman in college and could at least start finding work, and even Brian and Nick who were 15 and 14 were able to get some small part time jobs throughout the year, so as long as we were all financially stable, we were all able to live together in our house."  
Sam paused and took a long deep breath.  
"It was really difficult at first, but we were lucky enough to have eight of us to look after each other. We all had our special bonds with each and every one of our siblings, so no matter who was around at the time, we all knew how to take care of each other. Because of this, life slowly began to fall into a daily routine, and we all started to grow more and more cheerful and full of life just like how we all used to be. Eventually everything was great between all of us…and then another two years passed, and everything fell apart. I've been telling you guys that my family is all scattered throughout the world because of various reasons and that I'm always alone because they're all gone. I've been lying and telling the truth at the same time. They're all gone, but not for the reasons I've been making you think of."

 ***Flashback: Summer of July 28** **th** **, 2010 around 6:30p.m. There's still some light from the sun set, but slowly it's getting darker and darker as night approaches.  
Sam and her siblings are at a local park. Jamie is 23, Amber is 21, Jay is 19, Brian is 17, Nick is 16, Haley is 14, Sam is 12 and Chuck is 10.***

"I'm the highest!" Sam shouted.  
"No way, I'm swinging the highest!" Chuck shouted back.  
The two were competing to see who could swing the highest on the swings, their favorite thing to do when playing on the playground.  
"Well I know I can jump further than you!" Sam shouted.  
"Do that and see what happens!" Jay shouted as he pointed and glared at the two of them from the teeter totter he was on. "All I need is for you two to break your arms like your idiot brother did" he said as he shook his head at Brian.  
"Oh come on! I was younger than them at the time. I just wanted to look cool like the older kids!" he exclaimed with a playful smile.  
"You keep forgetting you're not cool though" Jamie teased as she fell down from the monkey bars, AGAIN.  
"And you keep forgetting you have no muscle" Brian teased.  
"Oh like you have any room to talk" Haley teased as she helped her older sister up. She and Jamie were weaker than the others. They were dancers and had great stamina and had some muscle, but nowhere near as much as the others. Even Sam and Chuck were able to win against them in select physical challenges.  
"Brian you can't say a damn thing until you're over here with us" Amber said as she and Nick were once again competing to see who could complete the most pull-ups. The two loved to exercise and went to the gym often, so whenever they hung out like this they were always playfully competing against each other.  
"Yeah….what she said…" Nick said, starting to reach his limit.  
Sam laughed as Nick flopped down and fell to his knees, exaggerating how tired he truly was. She brought her swing to a stop and then ran over to where Brian and Jay were. The teeter totter had two seats on each side, and Sam climbed onto the seat in front of Brian.  
"Who said you could drive?" He asked.  
"It's okay I have a permit" she joked.  
"Oh well then be my guest and drive" he said as he stood up and began to walk off, letting all of Jay's weight on the opposite side pull his side down and Sam up high in the air.  
"Okay, okay! Please help me drive!" she exclaimed.  
"Well if you insist on needing my help" he said as he shrugged his shoulders and climbed back onto the back seat.  
"Hey, where's my assistant?" Jay called out as he turned his head towards Chuck, who had a huge smile on his face when he heard this and ran over and climbed onto the front seat in front of Jay. Jay held onto Chuck tightly, as did Brian to Sam, and both sides tried their best to get the other to go higher up into air, hence why the older siblings were holding onto the younger ones. This went on for a bit until the others called them over for other activities.  
"Brian, come help me" Haley called over.  
"I'm busy!"  
"But I need help!" she called.  
"Ugh, but then I need to get up" he groaned, causing laughs from his other teeter tottering siblings.  
"Right because women love men who are scrawny and lazy" she teased as she rolled her eyes.  
"Yeah, if they know how to cook! And hey! I have a decent amount of muscle" he said as he held up his arms and tightened his muscles.  
"Then get over here and prove it by helping me!"  
"*sigh* excuse me young lady," Brian said as he carefully stood up and helped Sam off her seat.  
"Don't abandon your woman, bring her over to!" Haley called out with a smile.  
"Gosh so bossy!" Brian joked as he then bent down so he could give Sam a piggy back ride over to the zip line seats. There were a few different types of zip lines at the park. The few that they were using had round seats that connected to a rope that traveled down, across, and slightly increased before doing the same in reverse. There were a few of these types of lines next to each other.  
Sam and everyone else knew that Haley and Brian had a thing for each other, so she didn't want to interfere with their moment together. Everyone in the family knew about this and they had for a long time. Way back when both their parents were still around, the two were always very close, and their parents always teased that one day they would grow up and marry each other. It was awkward and difficult when they then became siblings, but everyone always knew that when the time came, they would deal with the situation and find a way to allow the two to be together. Brian and Haley would never do anything romantic in front of their siblings because they knew the situation was strange, but they had been on dates alone before, but everything was kept private about them, and everyone had respect towards one another about the situation. Still, the others would try to give the two some space if it didn't seem to odd, and right now seemed like one of those moments, so instead of having Brian push the two of them, Sam called someone else over.  
"Hey Nickkkkkkkkk!"  
"Yeah, yeah I'm heading over" the curly brown haired boy said.  
The girls got on their seats, and the boys pulled them all the way back to the highest point the wires would go, and the two nodded towards each other before taking off. The two boys ran forward, but when it was time for them to push and let go, they both jumped onto the seats with the girl in front of them.  
Nick and Sam both stood on their seat as Nick shouted "onward!" resulting in a huge smile coming from his younger sister. He swung an arm around his sister in a protective manner, since he wanted to keep her safe. Haley had been sitting on her seat, and Brian had jumped up and swung his legs around her so that they both were sitting on the seat as they swung down and forward, his arms tightly wrapped around her in a more romantic motion.  
"Ohhhh I wanna try! Chuck come protect me!" Jamie called out.  
Chuck ran over and stood behind his eldest sister who was sitting down. Jay followed behind and pushed the two forward as they swung forward on the zip line. Chuck held tightly onto Jamie's shoulders as the two zoomed across the zip line.  
They all did this a few times as Jay and eventually Amber provided help to those who needed it, until they also wanted a turn.  
"I need someone strong to push me" Amber said jokingly.  
Haley and Jamie used all their might to help push Amber down and across the zip line, both cheering for themselves each time they completed this task.  
"Oh Nick, please protect me on this perilous journey!" Brian said as he ran over and jumped onto the seat in front of Nick.  
"Only if you protect me as well!" Nick exclaimed with a smile.  
"Never let me go Jack!"  
"I'll never let go!" and with that the two went down and swung on the zip line, laughing the entire way.  
Jay also laughed as he was helping Sam and Chuck get set up on their seat. Sam sat down and Chuck stood up as Jay gave them a forceful push and the two took off.  
"Wow, look at how brave these two are Amber. I think they should aide us on our travels" Jay said with a smile.  
"I agree!" Amber said as she got off her seat and walked over to where the two youngest were.  
Jay carefully helped Chuck off the seat as they walked down to the furthest zip line, and Sam sat down so that Amber could sit behind her. Jay then sat behind Chuck on their zip line and soon everyone else came over to help push the two groups, the girls pushing the girls and the boys pushing the boys.  
Everyone was laughing and having such a good time, that nobody had noticed the shadowy figures that were slowly approaching, getting closer and closer to where the family was playing.

By the time Jay had noticed the movement and nudged Amber, it was too late. Just as they were helping the two youngest climb down from the seats, someone somewhere was shooting at them.  
"Go! Split up into groups to confuse them!" Jay shouted as they all started running away.  
As the siblings all began to scatter in groups, Sam had ended up close by to Jamie, and Nick and Chuck weren't too far away from where they were running as well. Jamie and Nick made sure to run behind and block their younger siblings from the bullets behind them, but in the midst of their retreat from the playground the two had been hit and collapsed.  
"KEEP GOING!" they both yelled to the younger ones of their group. Sam and Chuck were too scared to think, and so they followed the instructions they were given as they heard footsteps getting closer to where they were standing. Sam turned around to see Nick and Jamie crawl under a car together to try and hide from the shooters while they were too injured to move.

Sam and Chuck continued to run, and after a few minutes and multiple turns from street to street, they were reunited with the others.  
"What do we do?" Haley asked in a panic.  
"It's easier for them to attack us if we're in one big group because we're just one giant shooting target. Let's move in two groups of three. Hide if you need to and stay with your group. Try to find help if that's possible" Jay instructed.  
Everyone nodded and they split up, the girls staying together and the boys staying together.  
As Sam ran with her sisters, she was in such a panic and was so scared that she didn't realize she wasn't picking up such simple details that stated that someone was nearby. As the girls turned down another corner and began to run forward, Amber called out to stop, but Sam had already taken to many steps forward. Haley pulled on Sam's arm and pulled Sam backwards, but in doing so, exposed herself to the kunai knife that was thrown at her. The knife dove deep into Haley's side as she cried out in pain. Sam reacted instantly and pulled out her tonfa. The adrenaline kicked in quickly and she swiftly knocked the other knives out of the man's hand and then kicked him in a sensitive spot, making him collapse to his knees as Sam punched him right in the nose, both giving him a bloody nose and knocking him out.  
"We need to hide her, Sam help me" Amber called out.  
Sam quickly ran back and the two girls put Haley's arms around them as they helped move her to an alley way where they helped keep her hidden behind a few dumpsters.  
"Sam, you and Chuck went through all that martial arts training, so you need to stay here with Haley, got it?"  
Sam slowly nodded her head as tears began to form in her eyes.  
Amber cupped her sisters face in her hand, and then did the same to Haley with her other hand. "It's going to be okay," she said with a gentle smile, "we're going to get help and we're all going to be okay. I'm sure the boys will be back any minute now. Stay alert and don't come out unless you absolutely need to."  
Just then, they heard footsteps getting closer.  
Sam grabbed Amber's leg as she stood up.  
"Where are you going?" Sam asked desperately with teary eyes.  
"I'm going to lead them away from you two. Like I said, stay here and wait for help. I love you guys." And with that, Amber ran off, and seconds later, a handful of shadowy figures were chasing after her.

Sam was terrified. Yes she and Chuck had gone through multiple martial arts courses and trained with multiple weapons, but actually experiencing an attack like this was so very different from their training. You didn't see your siblings get hurt in training, you didn't see blood in training, and there weren't gun shots during training. She wanted to be at home in her bed with her siblings all sleeping in their designated rooms, she wanted to know where everyone was and that they were safe.  
These thoughts ran through Sam's head for about ten minutes, and then suddenly, more gun shots were heard from off in the distance. She wondered why no one had called the police yet after hearing all these gun shots. She would have done so already if her phone hadn't died, and all her siblings either had the same dilemma or they had just left their phones at home to charge since they all were hanging out together that night.  
"It's okay Haley, we're going to be okay," Sam whispered to her sister whom she was holding in her arms. "Why do you think the police aren't here yet...Haley?" Sam looked down at her sister and noticed how pale and blue her skin looked. Sam looked at her sisters wound and noticed that the knife was still in her side, and even though it hadn't been pulled out, her sister had still lost a lot of blood.  
Sam wouldn't believe it, she would not believe that her sister had been lying here dead in her arms the entire time. She didn't check her sisters pulse because she knew that everything had to be okay, everything had to go back to the way it was before tonight, it had to. Things had to go back to normal because Sam couldn't handle another tragic loss, not again, not after everything had finally started to settle down and when everyone was beginning to live life full of happiness and cheer each day rather than filled with sorrow and anger from all that had happened to them.  
"Haley, I'm going to go get help, but I'll be back okay? Please stay safe, you can't leave me…none of you can…" and Sam got her tonfa out and slowly began to exit the alley way. She walked along the wall of the shops that faced the street. She was constantly turning around and looking all over the place, making sure to watch out for anyone who was trying to pull a fast one on her. She felt like she was wondering around forever until finally she saw someone up ahead. As she got closer, she saw that someone was lying in the middle of the street. She looked over and hoped to see the body of one of their attackers, but Sam fell to her knees and wasn't able to control herself from sobbing out loud at what she saw. In front of her was Amber, lying in a puddle of blood that had come from three streams coming from her stomach, her eyes still wide open and filled with fear.  
Sam held onto Ambers hand as all reasonable thoughts fled from her mind and as she cried aloud at the sight in front of her. Amber was so much more than just a sister, she was her role model, someone who made her feel comfortable and safe, like her own personal body guard. Amber had taught her how to stand up to others who belittled her tomboy ways, and Amber was a light that brought nothing but happiness and confident energy to anyone around her, and now she lie in front of her, covered in blood and the most scared expression on her face that Sam had ever seen.

"Hey you!" cried a voice. Sam turned back to see some men dressed in black with guns in their hands exiting another alley way that had been behind where she was now kneeling.  
Adrenaline kicked in and Sam took off in the other direction. She sprinted down the road way in zig zag patterns and in between objects so that it would be harder for the men to hit her. She ran past someone standing in a tight space within the walls and stopped when she realized it was Chuck that she had just run past. As she was turning around, Chuck had already run out and had thrown shuriken stars at the three gun men. All three hit vital points on all the men and quickly they all collapsed.  
Sam was so shaken up, both from fear and also in awe at what her brother had just done, that she couldn't comprehend how to say anything.  
Chuck turned around and grabbed her hand. "Come on, we have to meet back up with the others." He lead the way as the two ran off for a couple of minutes and then turned left into a dimly lit alley way. The two kept walking until Chuck shoved them off to the side behind a dumpster. Sam gasped for air but her younger brother covered her mouth. She was so out of it that she hadn't realized that four more men dressed in black had been following them. She heard footsteps get closer to where the two were standing until suddenly she heard a crack and then a thud. She peered around the corner and saw Jay standing in front of the remaining three men. He had a long piece of wood that he must have found in a different alley way and had just used it to knock out the fourth man in black. Right after, Brian came running from the darker side of the path with his own wooden strip and also began swinging at the men in black. It was made obvious very quickly that the three men had had martial arts training behind them based on how they dodged each swing of the blocks with ease, and once they gained the momentum, they started attacking more than dodging. Sam bit her lip as she tried not to cry out loud as she saw her older brothers get punched and kicked. She could hear Chuck beginning to sob as well. Sam turned towards her younger brother and then held up one of her tonfa. Chuck gave a light nod and then held up three fingers…then two…then one…and the two ran out to avenge their brothers.

Sam and Chuck ran out and tossed some weapons to their brothers and then quickly pulled out more for them to use. Brian grabbed a hold of the sais and Jay snatched the bo staff that had been tossed to him and the two were able to start attacking along with blocking attacks much better than they were before. Sam quickly started attacking the man closest to her with her tonfa while Chuck quickly pulled out his nunchuks. Chuck was very skilled in using his sais, but his true calling was within his nunchuks. He was able to move as quickly as the men in black when using them, and Sam aiding him with her tonfa made them a tough pair to beat even for their young ages. The fight continued on with each person working hard to look for an opening. The fight was more difficult for Jay and Brian, but luckily they were the ones that helped the younger ones train the most, so they had learned a lot when fighting with the weapons they were given. Brian knew how to hold the sais so that they wouldn't cut him when he went to attack the enemy, and Jay knew how to use the bo to help maintain his balance while also looking for openings on when to attack, and he was lucky enough to find one. He quickly swung the bo staff and landed a solid hit to the man's head, but after all that Jay had been through that night, he was much weaker than he was when helping his siblings train, so the hit wasn't anywhere near as strong as it usually was. This left Jay wide open and as soon as he realized this, he was already out cold on the floor. Sam's face turned red from anger and she ran up and started attacking the man who had just hurt her brother with full force. The man kept stumbling backwards, obviously not expecting such stamina and strength from such a young child. Sam was filled with so much energy that she was able to swing her leg down and knock the man backwards, knocking him out as his head made a solid connection with the wall behind him.

While this fight was occurring, Brian was still fighting his opponent. Again, he wanted to attack with the energy he had, but because of the beating he just took he knew that he wouldn't be able to land a solid hit hard enough to defeat his opponent. Just then, the man knocked one of the sais out of his hand and it went flying into the dumpster. Just as the man ducked to cover himself from an attack, Brian saw Sam run back to aide Chuck. Sam jumped on the man from behind and used her tonfa to help suffocate him while Chuck punched him in the gut. His face turned blue and he collapsed. As Brian's opponent stood back up, he heard footsteps rush behind him. _"I'll use the last of my energy for this"_ Brian thought as he quickly swiped his leg by the man's knees, making him fall backwards as Chuck quickly ran up, twisted his hips and brought his left leg up to connect his foot with the man's face.

Finally, all the men were now unconscious. They all let out a sigh of relief. Sam ran right over to Jay and saw how bloody and bruised his face was. "We…we have to move him" she choked out as she held onto her brothers hand while he lie unconscious on the ground. She prayed that this wasn't the same case as what happened to Haley, but more tears formed in her eyes as she noticed the similarities in how Jay looked now to how Haley looked when she was injured earlier.  
"We'll hide him quickly, but then we need to keep movi-"  
Just then, and it happened so quickly that no one heard or saw anything except the red dot that formed on Brian's forehead, he had been shot. Chuck instantly pulled out a shuriken star and threw it in the direction of where the shot was taken, and soon after a man fell down in front of them. Sam gasped as she stared at the man who had just fallen and then at Brian's body.  
"NO!" Screamed Chuck.  
Sam turned and saw that two more men in black had grabbed Chuck and knocked his weapons out of his hand. That fast, the tides had turned and they were all screwed.  
 _"How? How are there so many of them? Why do more keep appearing?"_ These were Sam's thoughts as she stood up to run over to the men, but as she took her first step, she saw one bring out a shuriken star of his own. The second man held Chuck's arms out as the first man ripped the star down Chuck's forearms. Chuck clenched his fists, not wanting to cry out and give the satisfaction to the cruel men that they wanted, to hear their victim cry out in pain. Chuck looked up and saw Sam standing next to Jay's body. He could tell how broken she was and he knew that she would be next.  
"I love you Sam" he choked out. And then his eyes slowly began to droop, and his face slowly lost its color, and his body soon went limp, and the men dropped him on the ground once they realized he was gone.  
Sam just stood there. What should she do? There were yet again more men in front of her, and no matter where she ran she knew that more would appear.  
These were her last thoughts as felt something slam against the back of her head, and then everything was silent as everything went dark.

 **Theme:  
Ellie Goulding-Dead In The Water**

When Sam woke up, she was in a white room. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she realized she was lying in a bed. She heard some beeping and slowly turned her head to see many different monitors around where she was laying down. She then went back to her original position when she felt a sharp twinge in the back of her head. She assumed she must have been in the hospital and she wondered where everyone else was. That's when she heard some footsteps coming into the room. She closed her eyes, thinking that maybe she could learn what happened after hearing the doctor's talk.  
"…Alright, she seems to be okay. She should be waking up sometime soon based on these results" said a female voice.  
"That's good news at least. It's still unbelievable and it makes me sick. How could someone harm such a loving family?" asked a male voice.  
"Sadly this happens more than you would think. I hate to be gruesome rookie, but sadly this is something you have to get used to in this field."  
"I know, I know. I just can't believe that she's the only one that survived out of all the ones they checked. Some of them might have had a slight chance if help had been sent. The bleeding could have been properly treated for the girl, and the bullets might have been able to be removed from the other two, but the rest they looked at were long gone and didn't stand a chance. I just…can't believe this actually happened. And that one kid was only 10!"  
"It's insane. I can't imagine what was going through her head that night. Well, as horrible as it is, there's others like her and we need to help them in every way we can. Let's go check on the patient next door, she should be waking up soon as well…"

Sam opened her eyes after she heard the door close shut. She couldn't believe it. Everyone they checked at the crime scene was dead, she was the only survivor. What was she supposed to do? Whenever tragedy struck she always had her siblings, they were the reason she was able to live life now. Anytime anything made her upset, whether it be a serious matter or just something stupid, her siblings were the reason that she was able to get through it and see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now she was alone with no one to protect her and no one for her to protect. She felt lost, not knowing where she would go or what she would do without them. They were literally her entire life, everything she did was for them, everything she did was with them, and now they were all gone. She thought of what might happen to her now and tears filled her eyes as she thought of being sent to therapy where she would have to re-live everything she saw that night, and then being sent to a group home where she would always be alone after re-living the pain. That was another thing, how was she supposed to stop seeing them? Those images: Jamie and Nick under the cars covered in holes, Haley bleeding by the dumpster, Amber lying there stone cold in the street, Jay on the ground with so many blue and purple bruises and blood that you couldn't even tell what his skin color was, Brian's blank expression as the red dot formed on his head, and Chuck slowly fading away right in front of her eyes. She was wrong. She would never be alone, because she would never be able to get these images out of her head. Sam cried out as she realized that she wouldn't be living anymore, she would be existing. Existing with nothing but fear and terror consuming her thoughts every moment of every day.  
 _"I don't want to live this way…I can't live this way…I don't want this, I want to be with them. I can't do this on my own"_ she thought to herself as she brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, hiding her face in this cocoon as she wailed out loud. She then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. On a nearby tray table was a small bottle. Her vision was so blurry from tears that she couldn't read the bottle, but she didn't care. She quickly popped open the top, poured a handful of pills, and then stared at them in her hand.  
 _"I can't live without them, I can't live alone. Maybe if life was different…but now EVERYONE is gone. I'm only existing without them here, I want to join them and live again"_ Sam thought as she brought her hand to her mouth, and she tried to swallow the pills as she threw her head back.

"NO!" screamed a familiar voice. Sam felt two fingers shove their way deep into her mouth and then another hand tilt her head to the side as she threw up everything that just went into her body.  
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"  
Sam looked forward to see Jay standing in front of her with glassy and pissed off eyes.  
"They said you were dead…" she mumbled as tears streamed down her cheeks, her hands shaking like crazy.  
"WHO?!"  
"The doctors just did. They said I was the only survivor of those they checked."  
"YEAH, BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T CHECK ME! I was awake when they got there so I told them to focus on you guys and that I would let them check me later! Jesus, so your first thought was to take my pain medication and fucking kill yourself?!"  
Sam was so startled by everything that she kept choking from her sobs as she attempted to talk.  
"I…I thought I was alone…I can't live alone. Not with the images…all the images of everyone…I couldn't live with that on my own…"  
Jay pulled a chair up next to her. He took some deep breaths and made sure he was a bit calmer before talking to her. He held her hand and went slow as he talked.  
"Don't EVER do something like that ever again. I felt the same way…but I stayed strong until I knew 110% what condition everyone was in. When the paramedics said you still had a chance to live, I cried and kept praying that you would make it. I need you Sam, I need you more now than ever, more than I've ever needed you before. This…this is worse than any situation we've ever been thrown into…"  
"What happened?" Sam asked as she clenched her fists. "Why us? Why were there so many of them? Why didn't it ever end?"

"No…don't tell me" she said as she started shaking her head.  
Jay really began to cry now, tears pouring from his black and purple bruised eyes.  
"It was them again, the Foot Clan and the Purple Dragons. That's why it never stopped, they always have so many men nearby when they attack" Jay said as he began crying aloud with his sister.  
Sam slammed her other fist down on the bed. "WHY?! WHY IS IT ALWAYS US? FIRST YOUR PARENTS, THEN MINE, AND NOW LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE! WHY US JAY, WHY?!" she screamed as she cried.  
He stood up and hugged his sister, for both of them. They clenched their fists as they hugged the other.  
"I wish I knew…I wish I knew. But look at me" he said as he backed off and grabbed her face in his hands, "you can't leave me okay? You can't pull a stunt like that EVER AGAIN! I need you!" he said, choking on his sobs, "I need you so much Sam. We ALL have always needed ALL of our siblings in order to get through tough times, so now I need you even more than before. It's just us, so you can't leave me…you can't leave me…"  
Sam gently tugged on her bothers arm and he crawled into the bed with her.  
The two lay together, Jay on the left with his chin resting on the top of his sisters head. They looked like a father comforting his daughter the way they were holding each other. They needed each other to survive, and they both vowed that they would never let anything ever happen to the other one. They lay this way for the rest of the day except for when the doctors needed to check on them, not letting go of the other, both afraid that letting the other go might be the last time they saw each other, terrified of losing the other and being left all alone in this world.

 ***Present day, back in the dojo***

Sam took a deep breath in, and then out. This was the first time in a long while that she had relived that entire night, and she was a bit shocked at herself that she hadn't even shed one tear. At one time she couldn't speak a single word before tears came pouring from her eyes, but she had just told the entire tragic story without even the slightest sob sneaking out. She had come a long way since that night, and this was one example of how. She looked back up at Mikey and was startled by the expression on his face.  
"How…how were you able to hide that for so long? How do you just carry that around with you? Like…holy shit…" he said. Sam had never heard him talk in such a serious tone, or with such a serious expression. His eyes were wide, but they were filled with sorrow. His body was stiff yet there was still a slight tremble when he spoke.  
"It's been four years, you learn to grow with the changes, and you learn how to deal with them. It wasn't easy and it never will be, but there are things that help make it better, things that help you survive and find the will to move on" Sam replied.  
"Just…wow. Everything makes sense now though. The past and present tense in your speech now makes sense, and even things like why you won't even try to fight with nunchuks makes sense."  
"Yeah," she said with a small smile as she remembered her brother, "his sais were his original weapon of choice, but he was even more incredible when he had his nunchuks in his hands. I was never able to look at them the same after he passed away, so I haven't fought with them in a long time, and I never plan to. That was his number one weapon and at times it seemed they were meant for him to fight with, I could never try to top that and I don't ever want to. That's a memory of him I never want to change."  
Mikey nodded his head. "I would have loved to have met him, and if he's like you then I would have loved to spar with him" he said with a small comforting smile. "The reasons for all your training makes sense now as well. I'm assuming you took even more classes after that night?"  
Sam nodded. "After we all learned that both the Allan's and Park's had been killed by the Foot, Chuck and I wanted to learn how to defend ourselves if a time came where we needed to do so. Obviously our training helped some, but it wasn't enough mentally or physically. I made it clear to Jay that more and various types of training were needed if I wanted to truly start to move past that night. I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time because I was terrified that soldiers would sneak in my room late in the middle of the night and attack us again."  
"There's only one thing I don't understand, do you mind me asking?" he asked gently.  
"Of course not, ask away."  
"You've said multiple times that you don't really have any friends and that those who talk to you only do so when you're part of that activity or if they need something, was that night one of the reasons you've been so isolated?"  
"Yeah. Everyone looked at me differently after that night. No one tried to comfort me, no one even said hi to me. It was made very clear early on that besides for Jay's support, I would have to deal with my daily struggles all by myself. I basically spent each day all alone, and it was worse when Jay had to start working more so that he could financially support the two of us."  
Sam noticed that Mikey's eyes had become glassy and that he kept staring at the floor rather than at her face. He finally looked back at her as he began to speak.  
"I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that. I'm sorry I didn't know you then, because I never would have let you go through any of that by yourself ever. No one should ever experience what you went through that night, and the fact that only one person for a limited time was there for you at your weakest moment is just…" he cupped his mouth and looked off to the side for a few seconds, taking the time to collect himself, "it's just so difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that someone as kind and energetic as you was left alone in so many ways like that."  
Sam smiled at him. "What you don't realize is that I haven't acted that way in a long, long time. I've smiled and laughed more in the past few months since I met you guys than I have in the past four years of my life. Most of the time when I did smile it was forced, and most of my social interaction came from online chat rooms since I spent every night at home. I became so distant from people that I cared for no one but myself, and Jay of course, and after becoming much stronger in multiple different ways, I began looking for dangerous and usually illegal activities to make me feel alive again."  
"Like jumping from rooftop to rooftop and finding places you could sneak into after hours and how to hack their security systems in order to do so?" Mikey asked as he raised his eyebrows and realized that this now made sense as well.  
"Exactly those things, and a lot more just like them. But it's a good thing that I ended up that way."  
"Really?"  
"Yup!" she said with a smile as their conversation became a bit more relaxed and casual again, yet still serious and emotional.  
"Please explain" Mikey replied, a smile on his face for the exact same reason.  
"Because my sneaky and adrenaline filled curiosity lead me to this place, and then I met all of you, and you all are the reason I've changed so much. I've rediscovered parts of me that I haven't seen in a long time, and you've all allowed me to have interactions that I haven't had in years. I've been able to look back on memories of my family with happiness rather than with sorrow, and I laugh when I think back to my past rather than cry. I mean I still cry sometimes, but nowhere near as much as I used to. My life has changed for the better in ways I never thought it ever would, so THANKS GUYS FOR ALLOWING ME TO KEEP VISITING THE LAIR!" Sam shouted as she turned her head towards the giant circular entry ways into the dojo.  
There was a pause…and then Leo, Raph, and Donnie slowly poked their heads around the sides of the walls and slowly walked in. Each of them was silent and felt guilty for listening in on the conversation.  
"Sorry" they all said simultaneously before giving each other odd looks for their oddly synced speech.  
Sam smiled at the boys. "It's okay, I wouldn't have kept telling the story if I didn't want to. It felt like the right time to tell the entire truth. You guys never pressured me into saying anything, even though at times it was obvious you wanted to know."  
This made the boys react in embarrassed manners: rubbing the back of their heads, looking off to the side, rocking on their feet, etc.  
"It was a bit of a rocky start, but you guys let me get to know you, and you all did the same thing in return. I haven't felt this comfortable with other people in a long while, and telling me about the past and present tense thing made me realize that I had already been giving you guys personal hints about my past that I hadn't even realized. So thanks, for knowing me better than myself" she said with a small smile.  
"Heh, thanks for sneaking into our home" Mikey teased.  
"And thank you for eventually letting that go and not seeing me as the thief anymore" Sam said with an awkward smile.  
"That's what family does, forgive each other and move on" Raph said with a small smile.  
"I mean hey, you're practically our sister" Leo said before turning to walk away.  
"…hey, you knew you said that that one night, didn't you?!" Sam said as she ran over to him, remembering the night he accidentally called her his sister as they were leaving the parking garage after they had all snuck into the latest Foot headquarters building and quarreled with the Mutanimals.  
"I don't know what you're talking about" Leo said playfully as he shrugged.  
"Yeah, yeah. Oh Dorkatello! Did you see my latest invention before you guys began your eavesdropping?" she teased.  
Donnie was still rubbing his one hand down his face while holding his glasses in the other hand, trying not to let anyone know he had teared up a small bit when listening to Sam's story (none of the three would ever admit it, but they had all teared up some). "All I saw was you putting something into your bag and then right after that you started talking to Mikey."  
"Oh then I need to show you now!" Sam said as she ran over to her bag.

And that fast things were back to normal in the lair. Sam never in a million years thought she would be able to relive that night in the way she just had. She was able to casually reflect on her past and in a comfortable setting rather than a forced therapeutic one. Once again her new family members helped change her in a way she never thought possible, and she loved all of them, but Mikey was the number one reason she had changed as much as she had. He always knew what she needed in order to feel better and he knew how to help her open up on her own terms. He was gentle and kind with her and on multiple occasions showed that he truly cared about her and wanted to know about her and her life so that the two could continue to grow closer to each other. He also helped his brothers see her the way he did and because of this she was able to open up to so many more people and experience things she hadn't in so long, and this is what lead her to not having to but WANTING to tell them about her past. She never thought she would want more people to know about her past after the way everyone else had abandoned her after learning about the tragedy that occurred, yet here she was answering questions and reflecting on her past with a new and more loving and positive mindset, remembering the love and happiness her siblings brought her rather than thinking of their last gruesome moments. Her new family was the key reason that she was living again, they were the main reason she WANTED to live, and she prayed that nothing would ever come between her and her newest family members. For four years she had been existing, but for these past few months, she had felt finally felt what it was like to live again.


	19. Chapter 19

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #19

 ***Monday, July 28** **th** **, 6:00 at night in the lair***

The guys were finishing up their dinner and were about to disperse from the table and go about with whatever it was they felt like doing.  
"Dang, I never expected to be the one to clean up after dinner" Mikey groaned. Usually it was Mikey who prepared the meals (whenever they didn't order takeout that is) but today was his first time cleaning all the dishes after the meal. He didn't mind it, but he couldn't stand that whenever he was close to finishing up, someone would come up and place another dish in the sink. Just as he thought this, Leo walked up and placed another dish in the sink.  
"Awwww come on dude!" Mikey said, tilting his head back in frustration, just wanting to be done so he could return to his comic book collection.  
"Welcome to my world" Leo said with a smirk as he pat his brother on the shoulder. Usually Leo was one of the ones to clean the dishes afterwards since he never cooked, but he and Raph had actually made dinner all by themselves that night, so they were able to kick back and relax after dinner tonight. As Leo began to walk away, he noticed the untouched dinner spot where Sam usually sat and wondered how their human friend was doing that night.  
"Hey Mikey," Leo said as he turned back towards his younger brother, "have you checked up on Sam recently?"  
"No! Because I've been DOING ALL THE DISHES!" he said as he threw his wash cloth down into the sink. "Finally I'm free! I'm never letting you guys cook again! That or I need to convince Donnie to switch jobs and let me set the table from now on."  
"Not happening" Donnie said in the living room as he kicked his feet up on the couch and began playing some videogames.  
Leo laughed at Mikey as he groaned while pulling his phone out of its holder. His laughter soon faded as he saw his brother's expression change from one of playful annoyance to one of sorrow.  
"Mikey?" Leo asked softly.  
"Jay got caught up at work…Sam's still all alone…" Mikey stated softly.

Now that all the brother's knew about Sam's backstory with her family, they also knew that the anniversary of all their deaths was on July 28th. Sam had mentioned days earlier that she would like to spend that day away from everyone but her brother. They always spent the entire day together and later in the evening would go and visit the graves of both their parents and their siblings together, but tonight Jay was taking a very long time to get off of work, and as the day grew closer to ending, Sam had spent the entire memorial day of her siblings by herself. None of the turtles had made contact with her expect for Mikey who would send a check-up text every 4 hours or so to make sure she was keeping a leveled head and was doing alright. When he stated that she was alone, all the brothers froze. Raph was about to head to his room and polish his sais, but he completely stopped walking and stood still in the entry way to the back rooms after he heard what his brother said, and Donnie paused his game so that the room was now completely silent.  
"Mikey, did Sam happen to say how much longer it would be until her brother gets home?" Leo asked softly.  
Mikey looked back at his shell cell and read over the message. "She said it would be at least a couple more hours" he said as he violently snapped his phone shut, making it obvious how upset he was that his friend was suffering alone.  
Leo gave his brother a small smile. "Alright, then let's go give our friend a visit."  
And as soon as the words left his lips, he could see Raph and Donnie smiling from across the room just as much as Mikey was.

 ***Same night, 6:15p.m. In Sam's room*  
Themes:  
One More Light-Linkin Park  
Fix You-Coldplay  
Trading Yesterday-Shattered**

Sam sat on her bed with her legs pulled up against her chest and her face buried in her knees. She had gotten over feeling alone, but this was the one night that she couldn't handle loneliness. She knew her brother's job kept him away from home almost all of each day, but they had been kind enough to always give him the entire day off when this day came around each year, yet this year they just wouldn't let him come home. Sam had already cried enough that morning from thinking back to the good times that she missed with her siblings, and this time she cried more than usual since she didn't have an arm wrapped around her to remind her that at least she had one last family member here to protect her from more than just the Foot. Without Jay there, she felt the same exact way she did when she woke up in that hospital bed the morning after the attack, like she was just existing without a reason to live. She knew Jay was still alive now (obviously) but not having him next to her today of all days was killing her more than she ever thought it would. She held her pocket knife in her left hand, more afraid than ever that another attack would occur. Maybe it was that she had barely eaten that day because of her emotions messing up her appetite, but she didn't feel well and something made her feel like something bad was going to happen. She turned all the lights in the apartment off so that no one would think she was home, and then no criminals would try and bother her. She made sure all her electronics were turned off so that not one sound was being made. Sam didn't want to draw any attention to herself or to her home, terrified that the slightest of sounds would lead the Foot right to her location and that they would try to face her all by herself. If she was ever attacked, in general, she knew she could defend herself, but she knew she wasn't in the right mindset to fight tonight and that her emotions would literally get her killed tonight.  
 _*sigh* I wish I hadn't told Mikey to leave me alone today. I know this is and always will be a dreadful day filled with pain, but today is worse than ever before…"  
_ She jumped a bit when she heard a vibration sound, the sound seeming much louder since all other devices were turned off.  
Sam looked at her phone and read a message that said, " _Hey, I know you wanted to be alone today, but I could come keep you company while you at least wait for Jay. I promise I'll leave as soon as he gets there and leave you two alone like you wanted. I just…hate to think you're suffering all by yourself."  
_ For the first time that day, Sam's lips formed a very small smile on her face as she read the message of concern from her friend.  
 _"I'd love that. I'll disable the alarm for you."  
_ Sam quickly disabled the alarm systems she had set up in her room and then gently tossed her phone on the side of her bed. She rested her chin on her still pulled up knees, and then turned her head so that her left cheek rested on the top of her knee while she stared at the wall, lost in her thoughts…until she heard the window slide open.  
She quickly sat up, tightly gripping her knife, and stared at her window. He grip loosened as she saw her best friend poke his head in and smile as he turned towards her.  
"Hey, you good?" he asked cautiously.  
"Heh, don't worry. You're still allowed in" she said. She loved how he always double checked before following through with his actions. He was always looking out for her, and she would never get tired of that.  
"Alright, just checking" he said with a smile. He then stood up and lifted his leg up so he could climb over and through the windowsill.  
Sam's expression quickly changed into one of shock when she then saw Leo climbing through the windowsill. She didn't realize that she was staring at him as he walked across the room and observed the space that was foreign to him.  
"So, this is what a normal teenage bedroom looks like," he said as he nodded his head.  
Then Donnie entered the room, and of course the first words that came out of his mouth were related to the computer on Sam's desk which was close to the window.  
Then Raph came in, and the first thing he noticed was the weapon his friend was holding in her hand.  
"Nice knife" he said bluntly.  
Sam made a confused look and then finally realized she was still holding the weapon.  
She shrugged, "it's okay." She placed it on the small side table by her bed, and as she turned back around she felt her bed dip down some. Mikey had jumped onto the bed and had kicked his feet up.  
"So, are you cool if I bring my brother's over?" he asked with a nervous smile.  
"Shoes dude."  
"Oh! My bad!" he said as he quickly kicked his shoes over to the usual spot he left them when he hung out in her room.  
Sam smiled. "Much better. And no, it's fine. There's not much seating in here though, so I'll show you guys the living room. Heh, Donnie you can join us when you're done feeling up my computer" she said as she stood up and headed towards the doorway.  
"It's so beautiful-"  
"Let's go genius" Raph said as he pushed Donnie forward and away from the device.

The boys followed Sam out the doorway and down a hallway on the right. They then soon made another right at the end of the hall and they were now looking at the living room of the apartment. There wasn't a whole lot of furniture, but the essentials were there. There was a long couch that made an L shape, with four seats on each side, and there was also a large soft reclining chair by the side of the couch. There were some small shelving units closer to where the door was on the other side of the room.  
"Get comfy" Sam said, and as soon as she said so, she turned towards Mikey who had also turned towards her. The two eyed each other and then dashed for the reclining chair. Mikey was about to jump into the seat, but then Sam dashed around the corner and kicked him out of the chair just as he was about to land and quickly sit down.  
"Ha! Now I'm in the lead, 5 to 4!" she shouted as she pointed at him.  
"Uhhh," he groaned, "I'm not training you anymore. You're using my moves against me" he said as he climbed up onto the couch and laid down.  
The remaining three brothers shook their heads at the crazy duo and continued to check out the rest of the apartment.  
Raph sat on the other side of the couch. He looked up in time to see Sam toss him the remote and tell him to pick something to watch, so we saw she had Netflix and started looking through movies on there.  
"Hey Donnie, can you go grab me a drink from the fridge?" Sam asked with a smile.  
Donnie squinted his eyes at her, knowing that something was up, but nodded and headed towards the fridge anyway. He walked towards the back of the living room which lead to a small dining room table, and on the left there was an entryway that lead into the decent sized kitchen. He opened the fridge and his eyes went wide as he saw a variety of Maaza brand juice boxes.  
"Help yourself" Sam called out from the living room with a smile.  
"I'm starting with the coconut water and mango flavored one first!" he called back.  
Sam laughed as she then turned her head to see what the eldest of the group was up to. He had quietly made his way to the opposite side of the room by the door where the small shelving unit was. He observed all the photos on the walls and on the shelves and smiled as he saw nothing but smiling faces in each photo. As Leo continued to look at the pictures along the shelves, he remembered when they were all at the mall and Sam had commented that she used to shop around with Brian at antique stores and how that had become a tradition for the two of them. Tonight was a night where Sam was supposed to remember the good times that she shared with all of her family, and he was also curious to see what other similarities their unique families might have had in common, so he took a chance in finding this information out.  
"Hey Sam," Leo said as he turned his head around to face his friend on the other side of the room, "do you have any more pictures like these?"  
She was a bit shocked at his question. "Yeah I have tons, why?"  
"Mind if we see them?" he asked as he placed the frame back in its spot on the shelf.  
Sam gave him a small smile and stood up. "Sure, just give me a few minutes to go get them…actually, I can show them to you guys on the t.v. if that's alright."  
"Fine by me" Raph cut in, "but you gotta tell me how to use these remotes."  
"Oh I got you bro!" Mikey said.  
"Get that part set up for me and I'll be back in a minute." She then turned and walked back out of the room and headed towards her bedroom.  
The boys made sure they heard her door shut before they began speaking.  
"Well, she seems to be handling things pretty well so far" Donnie said right before taking a sip of his drink and sitting down in the recliner.  
"I think she's just happy that she's not alone anymore" Mikey said as he sat upright on the couch.  
"Sucks about her brother" Raph said defensively, his eyes aimed at the floor. "I'd quit if I worked at a place like that."  
"She's made it known before that his job is oddly unique to their situation, plus without it he wouldn't have been able to get this apartment, which is actually really spacious for being an apartment" Leo stated.  
"Just remember, we have to be careful with what we say to her and man I can't wait for the playoffs in a few more days" Mikey stated, gradually increasing the volume of his tone as he spoke.  
His brothers all gave him a weird look until literally a second after the words left his lips they heard the bedroom door open and instantly they all caught on, and also wondered how the hell he knew that was about to happen.  
"Yeah I hear it's one of the most anticipated sporting events this year" Raph added.  
"Sucks it won't be a home game though" Donnie announced.  
Then Sam entered the room and walked over to the television where she plugged in her flash drive to a port on the back. She turned around and saw all the guys quietly staring at her. She gave them a weird look and laughed.  
"You guys realize you don't have to stop talking just because I enter the room right?" she chuckled.  
"We're just waiting for the pictures to show up" Mikey replied with a smile.  
"Well that's not going to happen until you hit the button on the remote" she said playfully.  
Mikey looked at her, and then at the remote, and then back to her. "I knew that, I was just testing you" he said as he pointed the remote at her and then he hit the last button to get the slideshow set up.  
"Hey Leo, are you going to watch from over there?" Sam asked as she then turned towards him with a playful yet questioning look.  
He then realized that he was still standing by the door and then walked over and sat between Sam and Raph on the couch.  
Sam caught Raph about to put his feet up, which she didn't mind, but he still had his shoes on.  
"If any of you put your shoes on the couch, I'll kick your ass" she said facing the t.v. with a playful yet maniacally gentle smile.  
The boys tried not to laugh at the way she said what she just had, and she caught onto this as well.  
"You guys think I'm joking?" she said, pretending to sound tough.  
"Oh no we know you're not, and that's why we're not taking any chances" Donnie replied.  
"Who's that?" Raph asked as the slideshow started.  
"Oh that's Jay's family. I organized all the pictures in chronologically ordered groups, so it might take a little while before we actually see me, since Jay and his siblings were around for a good while before my oldest sibling was even born."  
"What's the age gap again?" Raph asked.  
"Well, between me and Chuck and then me and Haley is a two year gap, with Nick a 4 year gap, with Brian a 5 year gap, with Jay a 7 year gap, with Amber a 9 year gap, and with Jamie a 11 year gap. So yeah, they were all around for a while before I came into the picture" Sam said with a laugh.  
"That's cool that you guys were all so close though, even with the age gaps" Leo stated.  
"Well, all of our parents happened to be only kids and had wanted larger families growing up, and obviously they all go what they wanted. Point being, our two families were all we really had, so in a sense we grew up like cousins before we legally became family. Oh, this is the part with all the birth pictures" she said as pictures of the groups when the next child were born were displayed across the screen. A picture of an Asian baby girl came up first, then one with her and another Asian baby girl, then those two and an Asian baby boy, and then all those kids with another Asian baby boy. Each picture showed the siblings group grow larger and larger as the next newborn child was added to the family.  
"That's Nick right?" Mikey asked when a picture came up with a small white skinned baby boy carefully being held by a young Asian girl with three other Asian children surrounding them.  
A huge smile grew across Sam's face. "Yup, that's him. And then here's Haley!" she exclaimed as the next photo came up, each child from the previous photos a couple of years older in the upcoming photo. "Oh if only she knew that dorky boy staring at her wouldn't leave her alone for the rest of her life" she said with a laugh.  
"Brian?" Mikey asked. "They're the two that liked each other, right?"  
Sam nodded her head. "Yeah that's them."  
"Geez, he looks like a baby playboy with the look he's giving her in that photo, and he's only what, 3 years old?"  
"Ohhhh trust me, we never let him live that down once we found this photo. We also joked with him that destiny was set on that day."  
"They liked each other that much?" Leo said with a smile, finding the idea of these two being soulmates from birth quite adorable and romantic, though he'd never admit it.  
"110%. They were inseparable. If they had the chance to be in the same group or to team up as partners for ANYTHING, then I would bet my life on the chance that those two were working together. A three year difference didn't mean anything to those two and they made that very clear their entire lives."  
"Yet he has his hands all over you in this photo" Raph teased as the pictures kept going, the current one being at what seemed to be a playground.  
"Naw there's a difference" Sam said with a small laugh, "here he's just being protective as we go down the slide. I'll have to give it to all my brother's, they're all the biggest dorks you'll ever meet, but they looked out for all of us, even that pudgy two year old right there" she said as a lone picture of Chuck came up.  
The group continued to watch the pictures as they re-lived Sam's life with her. They saw her at birthday parties, sporting events, fun day trips, all types of events and activities where she was with her family. They're favorite part was when a few pictures came up of Haley and Jamie doing Sam's make-up and they made her look extremely girly as they covered her in pink everything. They found it even more hilarious that Sam looked as annoyed and disgusted sitting next to them as she did in the picture. The pictures continued on with everyone looking cute as younger kids, and eventually the people in the pictures slowly began to grow older and older, showing the years and years of memories that were shared amongst the family. As they got closer to the end of the slideshow and were now watching the last so many pictures Sam had from the year that the majority of her siblings sadly passed away, the turtles quickly went from feeling cheery and joyful at seeing all the happy moments that their friend had experienced with her family, to feeling sorrowful and depressed. In these final pictures, Sam was only 12 years old. They saw pictures of her and Chuck just beginning their trainings, of the siblings just graduating high school (which many still had yet to do) and just begin their lives as young adults, of the hobbies that the siblings would have wanted to eventually turn into careers, etc. So many photos of lives that were just beginning, only for them to be over so soon. They didn't like that this was where the journey ended, that after this it would only be pictures of Sam and Jay because this is where the rest of the family would move on from this world. They had loved getting to know each of the siblings and their relationship with Sam in each of the photos. They loved seeing Jamie and Haley be the goofy sisters that teased Sam and loved to be typical girly girls, seeing Amber be her best friend and introduce her to dancing and sports and give her the confidence to be the tomboy that she wanted to be, seeing Jay yell and watch over her like a second father, seeing Brian be the goofy older brother that instigated her and taught her how to be funny and pull pranks while also protecting her and teaching her how to be a respectful person, seeing Nick also be her sports buddy and guardian and role model while making sure she knew how to stand up to bullies and take care of herself as well, and seeing Chuck be her right hand man who followed her lead no matter what the two did and always compete with her even though they both did so out of fun. Within the couple of hours the turtles had joined her in looking through the photos of the past, they had learned so much about this family that they wished they could have met them, and that's when it hit them: if they were now so interested in meeting this family, Sam must be dying inside. Sam had lived every second of her life with these people close by, and every moment that she had ever had with these siblings, she would never be able to re-create them. Her family was gone, and now only her and Jay remained, and tonight proved that even that was a rare occasion. As these thoughts filled their heads, the slideshow then ended.  
Sam looked at the faces of the turtles surrounding her and she smiled as she took a deep breath and sighed. "Guys, it's alright."  
They all stopped their thoughts in their tracks and stared at her, sorrow in each of their expressions.  
"This happened four years ago, I've gotten a lot better at getting back to a daily routine. Some days are more difficult than others, but I know they would have wanted me to keep fighting and moving on with life. Heh, I can picture what they would all say to me if they visited me right now and saw me sulking."  
"But, how can you just live on knowing you'll never get any of those moments back?" Raph asked aloud in a calm tone. As soon as the words left his lips, he felt the stares from his brothers as he realized what he had just asked and that this could upset his friend. Sam however knew him long enough to know that Raph was asking this in a concerned and heartfelt manner, and just like she had been all that night, she was able to respond in a gentle and heartfelt manner as well.  
"One day one of my shit ton of counselors and therapists and so on asked me if I thought my siblings were still with me. Of course at that time I gave her nothing but sarcastic remarks, but she continued to make comments about how they were really still with me whether I believed it or not. I'm not gonna lie, this was the original reason I started doing really stupid reckless stuff. I had this whole 'oh if they're really with me then they'll keep me safe' type attitude, but I knew the reason I had been safe was because of all of the trainings I had gone through, so once I mellowed out I started to change my mindset some. Instead of assuming they were just with me which is what everyone always says, I set out looking for a purpose in life, something that would change the daily routine that I was forced to keep returning to. Instead of thinking my siblings were already with me, I kept asking for them to prove they were really there. I lived with that mindset for about a year, and sometimes I would get signs that seemed like I was being pointed in different directions, and one of those signs led to the glasses that I built that could detect the scanners that eventually led me to meeting you guys. So, I feel like they've been looking out for me all along, and even led me to others who were like them" she said with a smile as she looked back up at her friends, each of them with their eyes wide and their eyebrows raised.  
"You think your siblings wanted you to meet us because we're like them?" Leo asked.  
She laughed. "Oh come on guys, you can't honestly tell me you didn't see yourselves in those pictures at least once!"  
The boys thought back to the pictures and picked out moments where they did think that what they saw was something that either they or one of their other brothers would do.  
"I haven't acted the ways I have with you guys since I lost my family, and Raph even had one of my brother's weapons! What are the odds of that being just a coincidence?"  
Donnie shrugged. "Well, the saying is that 'everything happens for a reason,' right?"  
"I like that saying" Mikey said with a large smile on his face.  
"Looks like your siblings found the right families to pair together" Raph said with a smile, to which the rest of his brothers also nodded in agreement.  
Raph then stood up and began to exit the room.  
"Where are you going?" Donnie asked.  
"Looks like a turtle can't go to the bathroom in peace, thanks Don" Raph said as he flicked his brother on the side of the head.  
"Um, obviously you've forgotten that nothing is nonchalant in this group" Sam said with a smile.  
"Obviously I did" he teased as he then left the room.

Just then the phone rang. Sam signaled to the others to stay silent and they all nodded in response. She picked up the phone and saw that there was no number, so she was surprised to hear Jay's voice on the other line.  
"Jay?"  
 _"*sob* hey Sam…"_  
"What's wrong?" She could feel the concerned stares from her friends as they waited to hear what came next.  
 _"I…I won't be able to make it home tonight…it's this project we have to work on…I'm sorry Sam. I'm so, so very sorry"_ he choked out through his sobs.  
"Hey Sam-" Raph said and then paused as he saw her with a phone up to her ear and his brothers once again sending him death glares. He mouthed the word 'sorry' as he cringed, knowing that he could have gotten her in trouble some how.  
 _"Who was that?"_ Jay asked in a serious yet worried tone.  
"A friend from school" Sam quickly replied with wide eyes.  
 _"Was that a guy? There's a guy at the house when you're alone?"_  
"Um, let's circle back to you not coming home since that's way more important."  
The turtles each then sighed, each one pissed that Jay was continuing to fail their friend.  
 _"Trust me I know, every year they give me this time off no matter how busy we are, it's literally my one and only request…but this year things just didn't pull through. I'm so sorry I left you home all alone Sam, I know it doesn't mean anything but I'll never forgive myself for this."_ Jay continued to cry into the phone. He was so loud that even the turtles could hear him.  
Sam could tell that there was nothing her brother could have done and tried to be gentle with him, even though she was extremely upset herself. "Jay, did you do everything that you could to take off?" she asked calmly.  
 _"Of course I did, it's you and me to the end Sam, and you know that I would never leave you alone. I'd be by your side right now if I could. I'm being mentally tortured knowing that you're home by yourself."_  
This hurt Sam some, and she decided to tell a white lie to her brother to help ease his pain some. "I'm not home alone. I became closer to some people towards the end of the school year and I invited them over since you weren't sure when you would be home. So don't worry, I'm much better this year than I have been in past ones."  
 _"Are they-"_  
"Don't worry they're all girls! Geez, even when you're not here you're my annoying older brother" she said as she rolled her eyes. She smiled as she heard Jay laughing through the phone at her comment, and she was glad that she was able to cheer him up some. She was about to finish up the call when she felt the phone being ripped from her hands. She quickly turned to see Raph take the phone and hold it up to the side of his head.  
"Hey, Jay right?"  
 _"Yeah…"_ Jay replied with an angered pause.  
"Hi this is Officer Simmons. I dropped my younger sister off at your place earlier tonight and I just stopped by to pick her back up. I happened to hear your conversation with Sam and I have an offer for you, IF you're alright with it, and if not then I'll back down."  
Everyone was giving Raph a strange look, but he just held his finger up to his lip for them to be quiet as he continued to smile.  
 _"Alright, go on"_ Jay replied.  
"Earlier Sam mentioned that she visits the cemetery each year on this day. A few of my boys are downstairs in their cruisers. If you're okay with it, we could take Sam to visit her siblings before it gets too late. I also heard it was a tradition though, so I understand if you say no."  
Sam's eyes went wide after Raphael spoke. She never in a million years would have expected those words to come out of his mouth, and she was almost about to cry after she finally heard her brother respond through the phone.  
 _"Alright. Sadly I won't be able to take her tonight, so it would be nice if someone could. Thank you sir, I really appreciate this, and I'll do anything to make it up to you and your men."_  
"Heh, just make sure you're here with her next year" Raph said with a smile as he looked down at Sam who had her hands over her eyes and Leo's hand on her back, comforting her sine he knew she was fighting not to cry in front of them.  
 _"Oh trust me, I'll be there next year"_ Jay said in a randomly stern tone.  
Raph didn't know the meaning behind it, but he just went with it as he finished up the call.  
"I always knew you were a teddy bear under all that muscle" Mikey teased.  
"Shut up" Raph said as he lifted his leg and, without a huge amount of force, kicked his brother who was still sitting on the couch.  
"Thank you" Sam mumbled.  
Raph paused and turned towards his friend, forgetting about Mikey. He put his arm out to help his friend stand up. Once Sam had calmed herself, she took his hand and stood up.  
"Alright, I'll lead us to where the Autobots are hiding, Officer Simmons" she teased as she began to exit the room.  
Donnie snapped his fingers. "That's where he got that from! I knew it sounded familiar!"  
The group laughed as they then followed Sam out of the room and back to her bedroom window. Donnie put the coordinates into the GPS tracker he pulled from one of his tons of pockets, and once Sam was settled comfortably on Mikey's back, the group was off.

 ***9:00p.m. Schimunek Cemetery*  
Themes:  
BTS-Butterfly Prologue Ver.  
Skrux-Being Human ft. Mona Moua  
TOP-Hi Haruka**

Sam walked forward towards the ten graves in front of her, talking to each one and updating them on her daily life.  
"Hey Mr. and Mrs. Park. I know, I'm pissed that he's not here tonight either, but sadly things happen. I'll make sure to bring him here as soon as possible though. *sigh* it's not easy watching over him, especially when he's never home, but I'm doing my best to take care of him so that you two can rest peacefully. Ugh, he's so annoying though. He's like way to over protective sometimes, but hey that just means you raised him right."  
She put her hands over the two plaques and gave them a small smile. "I miss you two. I got to know you the least out of the group, but in a long, long time, when I'm old and gray, I'll get my chance to reconnect with you. Take care of yourselves until then."  
She then moved over to another two graves. "Same thing to you two. Heh, it's funny. I think Jay is stricter than you two, but when I think back to it, he always watched how you guys parented us and I think he started acting like my older brother way before he even realized it, so you guys just sat back and let Jay yell at us instead" she said with a small laugh. "It's weird, you never think you'd miss arguing with your parents until you're never able to anymore. I love you guys, and I know that there's day where my behavior probably makes you roll over in your graves, so I'll make sure to take better care of myself for your sakes, and then you can yell at me again for my past behaviors when I join you guys, a lonnnnnnnng time from now."  
She then stood up from those two plaques and walked over to the last 6.  
"And then there's you guys. Well first of all, you!" she said as she pointed to one of the plaques, "you little shit! What the hell was with you making me see you a few weeks ago at the basketball game?! Oh hey Amber I finally started learning the rules to play basketball you would have loved that, but YOU! Was that supposed to be your way of sending me a sign that you're still with me? Couldn't you be more subtle like Chuck? He led me back to his sai, and man I never thought I was going to see that thing ever again, but hey he led me back to it! But nooooooo, you had to be typical ole Brian and be as complicated as possible. Tsk, tsk. Chuck is younger than you, yet again he used his head more than you did."  
She then put her hands behind her head as tears began to slowly fill her eyes. "But knowing you, you've probably wanted to do that for a long time now, you were just waiting for the right moment. *sniff* you waited until I had the support I would need in order to see you again. *sniff* I know you all set me up. I've never cared about make-up, but Haley and Jamie somehow you got me hooked on loving nail polish. Like I don't care about anything make-up wise, but god damn I love nail polish, and what are the odds that there would be an ad for new high tech glasses in the window of a make-up store? And then I'm sure Amber and Nick were the ones who decided I should see Brian at a basketball game, since that was always both of your favorite sports. And of course Chuck, you led me back to your weapon. That one's just too much of a coincidence. Heh, all this time you guys really were looking out for me. Like, I'm actually happy again because of where you led me. Hey asshole, I found another antique nerd, and thanks for teaching me how to cook. Thanks to you I'm actually able to teach others to cook now to. And Nick, I found another hot head just like you, and even better, he's a workout-aholic just like you to. And for the girly girls who were also the academic nerds, I found literally the nerdiest person in the world. You would have had a field day studying with this guy, and I'm sure you'd be learning as much information from him as your brains could possibly hold. And Chuck, I found someone who fights with the same weapon as you. Like seriously he fights so well with his nunchucks that I honestly don't know which of you two would win…I miss you all so much."  
With that, Sam brought her hand up to her mouth to try and hide the noises she made as she began sobbing. Her gaze was on the grave plaques in front of her as she spoke. "I know you all led me to these guys, and I love the new additions to my family…but I still miss you all so god damn much…"  
Sam then felt a hand on her shoulder and she could tell that it was Mikey who had walked over and was trying to silently comfort her. She could sense how much he was hurting as he just listened to his best friend breakdown into tears, and she held onto his hand as it continued to rest on her shoulder.  
"Some days are harder than others, but overall everything is better now. I have these guys, so everything is better now. I love you guys, rest well, until the day where I'm able to goof off with all of you again."  
Sam then turned around and basically walked into Mikey. It was her way of giving him the O.K. to take care of her, and he did just that as he quickly wrapped his arms around her, a few tears of his own slipping out.  
As Sam continued to let her friend hold her, not wanting him to let go, she sensed the other three walk past them and towards the graves. Sam never expected the turtles to talk to them, and it made her cry even more to hear their words.  
"Heh, I would have loved to have seen you kick butt kid. I saw the pictures of you holding your weapons, and geez for a little 10 year old you really looked badass. Would have loved to have met ya" Raph said as he stood in front of Chuck's grave.  
"Thanks for being the reason I know how to cook" Leo chuckled as he stood in front of Brian's grave, "you can teach me about your Korean culture and I'll teach you about the Japanese, we'll talk as we go antique shopping one day."  
Donnie walked over towards the girls plaques. "If you ever have questions, one day I'll tell you all the answers. Can't wait to meet you at our study date" he said with a smile.  
"Heh, and one day we'll challenge you two to a round of basketball" he said with a softmpH laugh as he then walked over towards Amber and Nick's graves.  
Raph followed behind and looked down at Nick's plaque. "So, I hear you're a hot head, must mean you're an attractive guy as well."  
"Pffft!" Sam said as she covered her mouth as she tried to hide her laughter.  
Mikey smiled, happy to see his friend calming herself down and feel cheery again, while the others brothers rolled their eyes at Raph.  
"What's important is that you don't let your temper get in the way of taking care of your family, and it sounds like you always knew when to ignore that temper and when you needed to focus more on being a family provider, and for that you have my respect man" Raph said with a smile as he looked down at the plaque.  
As the brother's continued to talk to the members of their friend's family, Mikey slowly took his hands off of Sam and walked over and crouched down in front of Amber's grave, placing a hand on it as he spoke. "I hear you're the one who had the most personal influence on my best friend, that you're the one who told her that she should be proud of the things she's interested in, the way she likes to dress, things like that. Thank you, because I don't know if we would be best friends if she wasn't perfect the way she is. Thank you for encouraging her to be her. I know you all would rather be here to take care of her, and as much as I would miss her since we probably wouldn't have ever met, I'd rather it be all of you here to take care of her as well. But, because of the cruel and strange paths this world has led us all down, I swear on my life that we won't let anything bad ever happen to her again. She's with us now, and I promise that we'll all take good care of her. Our families are one now, and we'll make sure to keep it that way."  
The four brother's soon finished up with their words to the various family members, and soon it was time for all of them to head home.  
"Thanks again for this guys, I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough for this" Sam said, wiping away the last of the stains from the tears that had finally cleared away.  
"That's what family's for" Raph said, gently nudging her shoulder.  
"Sooooooo?" Mikey asked with excitement.  
Sam rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yes, sleepover at my house."  
"ALRIGHT! Let's go!" Mikey said as he crouched down so that his friend could jump onto his back.  
She did so with glee and the energetic turtle sprinted off into the night.  
"Dibs on making breakfast!" Leo called out as he chased after them.  
Raph was about to run as well, but he saw Donnie staring off into space.  
"Dorkatello, you coming or what?" he said as he waved his hand in front of his brother's face.  
Donnie blinked. "Hmm? Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking…"  
"Yeah?" Raph said, motioning for his brother to keep talking.  
"I wonder if Sam has any pictures of us, I mean she always has her phone with her whenever she hangs out with us. I just thought of something I could do if I got ahold of those pictures."  
Raph smiled, knowing his brother was coming up with a heartfelt idea. But for now he just wanted to get home and worry about hanging out with his family, and with that the final two members of the group ran off and quickly joined the others.

 ***Thursday, July 31** **st** **. down in the lair***

April was heading down to the lair. She had no idea what was going on, but she was told to meet everyone in the living room, so that's where she was heading. Just then, she heard footsteps quickly coming up behind her.  
"APRIL! Glad you could make it!" Sam shouted after running up and then jumping in front of her friend.  
"Sam, I see you're energetic as always" she said with a chuckle.  
The two walked together towards the lair, a route that they now both knew like the back of their hands.  
"Hehe, sorry. Coach has had us doing all types of crazy intense drills, so I've been drinking both water bottles and Gatorade, but the jug ran out today since there was a complication with the water fountains at the park, so I've been drinking my sugary sports drinks."  
"They're sugary drinks that are meant for athletes though, right?"  
"Yes, but they're as bad as candy if you drink them and then don't exercise right after. I basically drank a full bottle, and then coach decided to be nice and let us end practice early, so I'm JAM PACKED WITH ENERGY!" the girl exclaimed.  
"Oh I'm sure Mikey will love that, since you're his energetic competition."

After a couple more minutes, the girls finally entered the lair. The turtles and Splinter were all relaxing by the television, except for Raph and Mikey that is, who were once again wrestling with each other. Raph won this time, and Mikey was shoved backwards, falling onto his back and right at Sam's feet as she entered the room.  
"Wow, I'm embarrassed to call you my teacher, tsk tsk" she said, mockingly shaking her head.  
Mikey ignored this and instead focused on the fact that his best friend had arrived earlier than expected.  
"Sam! You're not supposed to be here" he said as he held his arm up.  
"I see I've been missed" she teased, reaching down and helping pull her friend up off the floor.  
"HAHA. You know what I meant" he replied as he was quickly pulled off the ground thanks to both of their strength.  
April looked at the younger girl in shock. She knew that Sam had some muscle to her, but seeing Sam's muscles bulge like that when helping her much larger friend off the ground was a bit intimidating. She hadn't even flinched or lost her balance in any way when helping him either, she had truly used her muscle to help Mikey get up, and to April that was incredible for a girl of her age and size to be able to do that. She was even more shocked that this must have become a routine sight for the others since no one brought it to light.  
"Why are you here so early?" Leo asked as he stood up from the couch.  
"Coach was ever so kind and let us leave practice early. He wanted us to relax some before we leave, since our practices up until Monday when the tournament begins are going to be a bitch."  
"Samantha" Splinter groaned.  
"Language, right. Sorry Sensei, hehe" she said nervously.  
"Alright! Everyone's here, so let's show them what we've been working on!" Mikey exclaimed, racing out of the living room and into the sewer ways.  
"This better be worth my time" Raph groaned as he also got up and off of the couch.  
"Don't worry, you're knitting needles will be here when you get back" Sam said, cupping her cheeks like she was staring at a little baby.  
"Heh, you weren't teasing me when you couldn't fix your pants. In fact, from what I remember, you made them worse" Raph stated, crossing his arms over his chest.  
"That…is a very good point. I'll use this motivation tactic instead" she said as she motioned to slap him, but at the last second missed on purpose, but it was still enough to tick him off.  
"Aww Sam, you forgot that that makes him freeze up. Now we have to wait another five minutes for him to move" Donnie teased, punching his brother in the arm.  
That was enough to set him off. Sam and Donnie fist bumped and the two took off, Raph chasing them from behind.  
Leo and Splinter rolled their eyes as April laughed. "Huh, so that's what energy drinks do to Sam."  
"Yeah, and that's what an energetic Sam does to Donnie" Leo sighed.  
"Don't act like you don't enjoy this my son" Splinter stated with a smirk.  
Leo shrugged with a smile on his face. "I'll admit, having them around is definitely entertaining."

The remaining three left through the exit right by the t.v. and went straight down a hallway and then made a right. They found the others, and somehow Raph had all three in a headlock, until Sam squirmed her way out. By then she had seen the last three join them and called a truce.  
"You don't get to just magically call truce! That's not how it works!" Raph shouted.  
"I'm leaving later this afternoon, so it's my rules!" Sam shouted with a wicked grin.  
"Bullshit!"  
"Raphael! Language!" Splinter yelled.  
"Sorry Sensei" Raph groaned. "OW!" Raph felt a slight pain in his right hand and looked up at Sam who had just swung her leg up and kicked his right hand.  
She shrugged. "Sorry dude, you were killing your brothers there."  
Raph then realized that he had never let his brothers out of their headlocks and that he had unintentionally been suffocating them.  
"Oops, my bad" he said nervously.  
"Can you tell us why we're all here now?" Leo asked, a bit annoyed. He had better things to do than to just watch everyone fight each other all day.  
"Yes! Mikey, do you want to explain or should I?" Sam asked.  
"Oh I'll do it!" He then ran over towards where the opening is. "Family members, when you look at this wall, what do you see?" he asked, making weird hand gestures the whole time he talked.  
"GET ON WITH IT!" Raph yelled.  
"I'm getting some signals from the audience that I should speed things up, so I'll tell you now that this is not just a wall, but" he then kicked down the space where the duo had carefully placed the loose bricks, "a doorway."  
The other brother's eyes went wide, not expecting the bricks to just collapse the way they did. Donnie, who was always the first one to question any situation and want to learn about its details as soon as possible, was the first to run through the doorway and see what was inside. He was shocked to see a basketball hoop a few more feet above the top of the entry way and that the rest of the room was made of smooth and solid concrete. Raph walked in behind him, and his eyes trailed over to the giant blow up obstacle course that was on the other side of the room. Splinter and April entered the room next, and they were shocked, spinning in circles as they realized how large this room truly was. Finally, Leo walked in, and the first thing he noticed was the second doorway all the way at the near left corner of the room. He then walked over there and his jaw dropped as he saw the well put together skate park that had been built inside the room, with a rock wall that scaled all along the left side of the wall. The rest of the family followed soon after, each of them displaying similar facial expressions as Leo had.  
"Oh my god there's another one?" Donnie questioned as he then jogged over to another entry way in the nearest left corner of that room.  
As he then entered that last room, he was completely mind blown to see that this room was obviously the largest of the three, and that there was a go-kart track AND actual go-karts in this room, and then on the far side of that room were some batting cages and of course one shooting cage with a goal where Sam could practice her shots as well, and all along the wall straight ahead and even in front of it were tons of trampoline squares.  
"My children…how did you ever discover all of this?" Splinter asked in amazement.  
"Heh, I guess I should thank Leo for sending me to the Hashi" Sam teased, leaning on Leo.  
He pursed his lips together and looked down at her. "I'm sorry, what?"  
"Remember? I lost my race with Raph, so you sent me to the Hashi to do…splits" she whispered with a shudder.  
"That still doesn't explain all this" he said, shooting her a confused look.  
"My legs felt like noodles afterwards, and when I went to lean against the wall for support, the wall gave out. I introduced my discovery to Mikey a few days later and we got to work, and this is the final product" Sam said, nodding in approval of what she and her friend had created.  
"This…this is actually...pretty incredible" Raph said in amazement.  
"Heh, I guess someone" April said as she ruffled Sam's hair "finally told Mikey that you guys live underneath an amusement park."  
"How long were you guys going to hide that from me?!" Mikey exclaimed.  
"Oh you would have been begging for us to take you up there every second of every day and you know it" Leo called out.  
Mikey paused, and then nodded with a smile, finding it funny how well his brothers knew him.

 **Themes:  
Kelly Clarkson-Heartbeat Song  
Tim Berg-Seek Bromance **

"Soooo, are we going to test this stuff out or not?" April asked, actually very excited to join her family in these activities. She then felt Sam pulling in her arm.  
"Great question! We'll answer that by having a race!"  
Sam led April back towards the first of the three rooms where the blow up obstacle course was.  
The course consisted of a large round opening you had to pass through, then there were a few green inflatable pillars you had to push through, then there were three yellow inflatable beams you had to either jump or crawl through, and then to finish you had to climb up an inflatable rock wall with small red squares until you reached the top where you would then slide back down to the other side.  
Splinter leaned against the wall and watched as the 'children' got ready to race each other.  
"Hajime!" he called out, and the race began.  
April, Leo, and Raph made up one team, and Donnie, Mikey, and Sam made up the other.  
Donnie dived into the opening of the course, whereas April climbed over, knowing she would flop on her face if she tried diving like that.  
As the two then started pushing their way through the pillars, Mikey and Leo began their part of the race, both diving through the opening…and getting stuck due to their large sizes. Donnie was already too far ahead to come back and help, so Sam real quick jumped over top and helped pull Mikey through. Luckily Leo was able to pull himself through in time, and Raph quickly climbed over top. Sam dived out, and then dived back through the opening. She tried to get up as quickly as possible, not that it mattered though since Mikey had tackled Leo where the pillars were, and there was no way to get past them. To everyone's shock, April had come back and pushed Mikey off of Leo. Leo was able to move through quickly, but then Sam started kicking the pillars towards Raph. Mikey was then able to squeeze by, but then Raph was now using the pillars to pin Sam down. She tried to call for help, but she was laughing too much to do so.  
Meanwhile, Donnie and April were working on passing through the inflatable beams. April and Sam were the only ones who were thin enough to climb through them with ease, so while April did so, Donnie leap and cannon balled onto the other side.  
"Tch, ninjas" April teased.  
She then felt herself being pushed backwards as Michelangelo tried climbing underneath the very bottom beam, which pushed hers upwards and then knocked her out completely.  
"Wow, that's messed up!" she called out as Mikey laughed from the other side.  
Leo then came forward and kneeled down and cupped his hands together. April nodded and stepped up, and that quickly she had been lifted over to the other side, and Leo leaped over behind her not long after.  
"Climb on?" Leo asked, not wanting to force April into doing what he wanted, but more so wanting to hint that if she wanted to win, climbing on his back and letting him climb for two would help put them in the lead.  
"Heck yeah" she said, and she quickly climbed onto his back. By the time Donnie was halfway up the wall, Leo had already caught up with him, and with April on his back, they were now two people ahead of the other group.  
"Tch, ninjas" Mikey and Donnie teased simultaneously.  
At the end of the race, Raph had eventually run away from a pinned down Sam and tried to leap over the beams, but Sam was quick and had dived through as he was leaping over. They both started making their way up the wall, until Sam had swung her leg over and knocked Raph down.  
He stood back up and shook his head with a smile. "Oh, so that's how it's gonna be? Two can play at that game."  
He jumped up and grabbed onto Sam, pulling her down with him. She tried to stand back up and catch up, but it was hard to catch her footing when the course kept moving so much, that and she was still smiling a lot which made it harder to see through her squinted laughing vision. She saw Raph climbing quickly, but what neither of them had seen was Mikey who had been hiding out at the top of the slide, waiting for his friend to catch up. As Raph neared the top of the wall, Mikey grabbed his brothers wrists and gave him a wicked smile while shouting "long live the king!" and then threw Raph's wrists back and away from the wall. Sam swung to the side so that Raph couldn't bring her down again, and then grabbed onto the arm that was now leaning down in front of her. Mikey quickly but carefully pulled and swung her up and Sam slid right on down the slide, her friend right behind her. Seconds later Raph slid down behind them.  
"I hate to admit it, but that was clever" he said as he threw an arm around his baby brother's shoulder.  
"I have my moments" Mikey said with pride.

After a few more rounds of this, the group then decided to head over to where the go-karts were. The track wasn't that long and basically just went around in a giant circle, but it was also a slick track, making it twice as fun as a regular course. Sam and Mikey had taken all the go-karts they could get their hands on from the old amusement park area and were lucky enough to get their hands on about 10 cars.  
Everyone got into their cars and once the girls got their hair tied back they all started to drive. Sam and Mikey knew how to use the slick track, so as soon as they got to that first curve they turned hard and made their cars turn completely around. This was fun for them, but it threw everyone else off guard. Donnie didn't want to hit Mikey head on and when he turned he slid a bit towards where the trampolines were.  
"Geez Donnie learn how to drive" Mikey teased as he started to drive away.  
Donnie got his car back on track and zoomed away to catch up to his brother. By that time Leo and Raph had also figured out how to make their cars spin the same way, and it soon became a competition to see who could cut others off the most. Raph sped up and was about to twist and turn right in front of Sam which would have made her have to try and drive around him, but April suddenly appeared and, unintentionally, cut him off instead.  
"Sorry!" April called out as she covered her mouth in a playfully apologetic way, laughing the entire time.  
"You're gonna pay for that" Raph said as he pointed towards her.  
Just then, Mikey drove up and parked his kart in front of Raph.  
"Now's your chance, escape angel cakes!" he shouted.  
April laughed as she sped away, and Raph was left to figure out how to get around Mikey. Every time Raph backed up, so did Mikey. Raph waited until Leo came around and then sped up alongside his elder brother, and this time it was he who got stuck behind Mikey, and Raph was free. Leo looked at Mikey and the two nodded before speeding away and trying to catch up with Raph, hoping to once again cut him off and then get back in the lead. The three then had to come to a stop as they came across three karts side by side. Somehow, Sam and April had sandwiched Donnie in between them, and he was struggling to get past him.  
"Come on Don! You're blocking the road!" Mikey called out.  
"Well you're the one who blocked the road earlier when messing with Raph, and then I got stuck here!"  
"Beep beep I'm a jeep!" Mikey exclaimed as he carefully hit the back of Sam's kart.  
"Hey! The sign says no bumping!" Sam said with a smile.  
"Go forth brother!" Mikey shouted, and that fast Donnie was speeding away.  
"Sam, you let your guard down!" April called out.  
Soon after, Raph and Leo sped by and turned just in time to just miss hitting April's kart.  
"Excuse me!"  
"Coming through!" they shouted.

The group continued on with this for a little while longer until the karts soon began to run out of gas. Sam's was the first to go, so she carefully parked her kart where it belonged, unbuckled herself, and then ran over towards the trampolines. She then ran over to Splinter who had been leaning along the wall happily watching his family.  
"Come on Sensei, even you can jump on a trampoline" she said with a smile.  
Splinter nodded his head and took his time walking after the girl who had excitedly ran away to the trampolines. Sam and Mikey had laid out the trampolines so that it looked like a section from a modern day Skyzone. Sam began jumping as high as she could and start hopping down the line of trampolines. Splinter was careful when walking onto the trampolines, but once he started bouncing, he too wanted to see how high he could go. He was soon startled by Donatello whose kart had also run out of gas, and once he had carefully parked it had also sprinted over and leapt up onto a trampoline.  
"Whoa, this is awesome!" he said as he soared even higher than his father.  
"Hehe, careful my son" the old rat chuckled, happy to see his sons kick back and have some fun.  
"Samantha, what does this higher trampoline do?" Splinter asked as he pointed to the slightly inclined trampoline that reached up higher along the wall.  
"It's used for this" she said as she jumped high up and onto the sideways trampoline which then launched her outwards and back onto her original space.  
"That's nothing, watch this!" Mikey shouted as he hopped down towards Sam and then did the same thing, but he did a backwards flip and landed on his shell on the sideways trampoline, and then flipped forwards so that he was standing on his feet again.  
"Nice!" Sam said, giving him a high five.  
"Help me up" April said to Mikey, and then he carefully walked along the side to where she was and carefully helped lift her up to where the trampolines were. Leo and Raph soon joined the group as well, and then everybody was bouncing on the trampolines.  
Sam was bouncing next to Mikey when she decided it was time to mess with her best friend.  
"Hey Mikey."  
"Yeah?" As he turned around to face her, Sam had already jumped up high and bounced off the inclined trampoline and then launched herself onto her friend, tackling them both onto the trampoline he was standing on.  
"Ha! That's for making us lose Donnie earlier!"  
"I'll avenge you Mikey!" Donnie said as he started bouncing over towards where the other two were.  
"Gotta catch me first!" Sam called as she went to do a backflip…and failed epically. "Nope" she said as she soon flopped onto her back. When she looked up, Donatello was already standing beside her. "Well, I think Mikey's been avenged" he teased as he held his hand out to help her up.  
"Heh that looks fun" Raph said as he then did the exact same thing Sam had done to Michelangelo.  
"Ughhhh come on dude, why is everyone after me today?" Mikey groaned.  
"Lameeeee!" Sam called out. "Come up with some original material."  
"You mean like that back flip you just did?" Raph mocked.  
"Hey, at least it was original" she shrugged.  
"Can you actually do a backflip?" Leo asked.  
Sam paused, trying to think back to the last time she had ever completed one. "Honestly, I have no idea. I learned how to complete one, but that was a decent ways back."  
"Lesson time!" Donnie called out.  
Each of the guys took turns demonstrating how to complete a backflip, and then it was Sam's turn to try again.  
"Remember, you have to let your body flow with the movements" Leo stated.  
Mikey was on standby in case Sam looked like she was falling at an angle that could harm her as she landed, and it's a good thing he stood where he did. Once Sam had gotten high enough off the ground, she went to flip her body backwards, but she tried moving backwards after she had reached her highest point rather than when she was still rising into the air, and because of this she was about to land right on her head, but Mikey caught her mistake and jumped across and caught her in time. As soon as he landed Sam was already trying to get back into position so that she could try again.  
"You're welcome" Mikey said sarcastically. Sam then turned back towards him and clapped her hands together in front of her, almost like she was about to bow to an elder.  
"Thank you so very much Michelangelo for not letting me fall to my doom."  
"Much better! And you're welcome" he said with a smile.  
Sam then started bouncing again, and this time she started her backflip at the right moment, and she landed perfectly on her feet. Sam then turned towards April, since she thought she hadn't teased her enough tonight.  
"Come on April, now it's your turn!"  
"Not a chance" April said bluntly.  
"Awww come on, you're surrounded by a bunch of ninjas! You should learn some moves. Like hey here's an easy one" Sam said as she bounced really high and then tackled Raph to the ground.  
Raph growled as he then chased after a laughing Sam.  
"Yeah that's a great move to learn, you know, if I wanted to die today" April said with a sarcastic expression, shaking her head at the crazy teen as she watched her get caught, picked up, and then tossed onto another trampoline by Raphael.  
"You know, these trampolines actually make it a bit easier to learn some already simple moves" Donnie said as he faced April.  
"*sigh* alright, teach me something simple" April said as she stood up.  
"Front roll!" Sam called out as she then provided an example of how to do so on the longer trampoline strip. She accidentally leaped back upwards a bit too forcefully though, and then accidentally tackled Leo.  
She pursed her lips together, wondering how he would react. He stared at her with a blank expression and calmly yet sternly said "run."  
Sam's eyes went wide as she then scrambled (laughing all the way) as far away from Leo as she could get.  
As Donnie and Mikey began teaching April how to do a basic frontwards roll, Leo ran up to and then (with just enough force) slammed Sam into the angled trampoline, and then pinned her to the ground once they both landed on the ground trampoline.  
"Okay, okay you win!" she laughed out.  
"Oh I got it!" April called out as she then demonstrated a frontwards roll all by herself and then stood up with her arms in the air, just like a professional gymnast.  
"Heh, nice" Leo said with a smile.  
"I wouldn't know, I can't see!" Sam said as she was laying on her stomach and her head was turned in the opposite direction as Leo still had her pinned down. As Leo laughed and let her back up, she did however see Mikey throw his arm around April's shoulder as he also congratulated her on quickly learning the move.  
This made Sam feel a bit odd, since she was used to Mikey acting that way towards her and she wasn't used to seeing him act that way towards others, but she also knew that all the brothers were as close with her as they were with April, and she also knew that she had been teasing all of the brothers all that night, so she shrugged it off and thought she was just being silly.  
"Um Samantha, your bag is glowing" Splinter said.  
Sam looked over against the opposite wall and saw in her bag was a glowing light, which meant that Jay was calling her. Sam ran over and answered the call, and as soon as she hung up she was throwing her bag over her back.  
"Leaving already? It's only 7:30" Raph stated.  
"Yeah, I have to wake up early tomorrow morning. Jay wants to beat the heavy traffic as we head to the tournament tomorrow. It's in Maryland so it's not too far away from here, but he also wants me to relax in the hotel some before I go through my crazy trainings."  
"When do those start?" Leo asked.  
"5:00p.m. tomorrow, and if coach finds out that you purposefully missed out, then he's benching you for as long as he can."  
"Then you best leave now my child and get a good night's rest to prepare for the long busy days ahead" Splinter said.  
"Got it Sensei, see you later guys! Remember to look for the game on the television!" Sam said as she started running out of the room.  
"You better kick butt or else we don't know you anymore!" Raph called out.  
"Dedicate your wins to your best friend!" Mikey shouted.

 ***Minutes later above ground***

Sam was now above ground and arrived at the spot where she and Jay agreed to meet. She spotted his car and ran over and quickly hoped into the passenger's seat.  
"How goes things my brotha from another…Jay?" Sam asked, quickly changing her energetic and excited expression to one of worry and concern.  
The way Jay was gripping onto the steering wheel made it seem like he thought letting it go would lead to the car falling apart. He was sweating, and his tan skin now looked much lighter and pale.  
"Jay…what's wrong?" Sam asked calmly.  
He started hyperventilating as he began to speak. "There's…there's some things I need to tell you, and how you react to them is your decision. Please just know that I never meant to hurt you or anyone else and I've always loved and tried my best to protect you and everyone else in our family."  
"You're scaring me" Sam stated. "Are we under attack?"  
"In a sense. Don't worry the cars not bugged, but there's a lot that I need to tell you. If you hate me afterwards, well, I don't blame you. But I'm giving you the option to act however you would like to after I tell you this, okay?"  
"Yeah…okay…"

Jay then told Sam a lot of news that shocked her and shook her to her core. She felt hurt and she was pissed, but she knew none of it was her brother's fault, and this is what affected her final decision. She told Jay what she wanted to do and the two drove away, not realizing how much these decisions would change everyone's lives.


	20. Chapter 20

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #20

 ***Monday August 4** **th** **, about 8:00p.m. At the lair***

"Is it starting yet?" Raph called out as he was lifting weights over near the dojo.  
"No, still interviews" Mikey sighed. "I know she said it would be on later because they wanted to edit the footage before it was all aired live, but this is ridiculous."  
"Oh, that's the design of her uniform, right?" Leo asked.  
They were now watching a man on the t.v. screen wearing a zig zagged shirt and pair of shorts where one whole side was red and the other black, exactly like Sam's soccer uniform.  
"Oh that's her coach!" Mikey called out, a smile forming on his face, hoping he would now finally get a glimpse of his friend in action. The man was being interviewed and had just been asked about his team and their absence from this year's tournament.  
"Yeah, I know how much they all wanted to be here, they've been training…heh, they've been training sine last year's tournament. Last year we just missed getting our chance to move on to the next stage of the tournament, and my boys really wanted to avenge themselves from last year, but this crazy cruel world threw a lot of them some unfortunate curve balls within the past few days, literally days, and we had to cancel at the last minute. In honor of my team, I'm still here with the few teammates who were able to attend and we're going to scope out the competition for next year where we'll be ten times more prepared than we would have been, hehe."  
*Interviewer*: "I see you said your boys, does that include your female player?"  
The coach rolled his eyes. "Of course that includes my female player. She's a tomboy and would feel insulted if I didn't include her as one of the guys. She was one of the many who had some unfortunate curve balls thrown in her direction, and I know she was ready to kick butt again this year. *sigh* This world makes no sense to me, why these kids were ripped away from such an incredible opportunity for reasons they couldn't even control is beyond me, but I hope these teams are all prepared for my boys next year, we'll be back and kicking!"

The turtles sat in silence. They couldn't believe what they just heard.  
"Mikey…" Leo stated, his face frozen as he stared at the television screen from his seat on the couch.  
Mikey sat there speechless, and all he could do was shake his head.  
Leo and Donnie both looked at their brother who was sitting on the end of the couch and their eyes went wide as they witnessed Mikey's expression.  
"You mean you don't know anything about this?" Raph asked as he walked over and stood next to the flat screen. He had heard the news from the other side of the room and instantly became concerned with the situation.  
"She never told me anything. The last time we spoke was Thursday night right before she left. I assumed that she hadn't contacted me because she was busy practicing."  
"Call her now" Leo commanded.  
Mikey picked up his shell cell and dialed his friend's number…only to have it go straight to voicemail…three times in a row.  
Just then the police scanner went off. Officers could be heard talking about multiple robberies that had just occurred in the area but nothing was known about where the culprits went or where they were hiding.  
"We'll worry about Sam as soon as we get back, but we have to deal with this first" Leo stated.  
The brothers nodded and they all ran to grab any gear they thought they might need.

 ***Moments later***

Donnie was parking the truck in a dark alleyway where it would be hidden from any wondering eyes.  
"Alright, I hacked the cameras closest to the locations of where the robberies occurred and the footage shows all the culprit cars leading here. There seems to be about six different cars, four small and two larger trucks" Donnie stated.  
"Let's quietly look around and see if we can figure out where the thieves are hiding. Depending on the situation, maybe we can attack and tie them up and leave them here for the cops" Leo whispered to his brothers. They all nodded in agreement and the group soon exited the truck. They found a ladder along the side of the building and climbed up so that they would have a better view from the rooftops. The boys spread out some, looking for the trucks. It took a little while, but finally they were spotted.  
"There" Raph said, pointing downwards diagonally at a group of dark black vehicles that were slowly being driven through the back allies. The boys trailed the moving vehicles, using the shadows to hide their movements, and followed them to a large docking area. All six of the vehicles were there, and multiple people dressed in all black, including their masks, started getting out of the cars. Some had guns, and others had ninja tools attached to their outfits.  
"Foot soldiers" Leo whispered, "I wonder what they're up to this time."  
"This looks like an initiation" Donnie stated. "I've read articles about this. Just like how gangs have really messed up initiation rituals, the Foot will come up with various tasks that the newbies need to complete in order to be accepted into the group and to start earning Shredder's trust. This fits the description of past initiations that I read in those articles. The task is usually something stupid and pointless, but a crime must still be committed. They all meet up and then a superior comes and evaluates them all at one time. Those who pass get to return to headquarters, and those who fail or try to bail out are usually killed, and that's if they haven't already been caught by the police. We should see a leader come out soon."  
After a couple of minutes of the soldiers getting into groups and gathering their stolen materials, a soldier with a red band around their upper arm walked out of the lead car.  
"Looks like that's our guy" Mikey stated. "What do we do?"  
Leo quickly tried to think up a plan. "We're going to spread out and attack from all open sides. One side is useless to them because it's nothing but water, so that leaves three more sides. There are solid brick walls on their left and right sides, so the only way for them to escape is by leaving through the entrance where they drove in. They were trying to hide, but instead they cornered themselves in. There's about…28 of them total, so we should be able to handle them. Raph and I will block their exit, so Mikey and Donnie will attack form the sides. Got it?"  
"Got it" Mikey said with a nod.  
"Got it" Donnie said with a nod as well.

The boys all turned towards Raph. Leo waved his hand in front of his brother's face.  
"Raph, you with us?" he asked, frustration in his voice.  
"…what?"  
Leo bit his lip as he tried to keep his cool. "Do I need to tell you the plan again?"  
Raph quickly shook his head. "No. I know, you and me in the front and the other two attack from the sides. 28 of them so 7 for each of us. Sorry just…I thought I saw something, but I'm good."  
 _"Heh, what the heck am I thinking. Hell, how could I ever even think that? There's no way…absolutely no way…right?"_ Raph thought to himself as he and the others walked to their positions. He kept telling himself no, but the sight down below kept making him think otherwise. The leader who was judging the new soldiers, they had a bulge under their right sleeve. Something thicker was under their sleeve and the shape that was seen seemed very familiar to Raph. Only the top part was thicker and it extended from the leaders fingers all the way down to their mid arm, almost like…like a glove or second sleeve underneath their uniform. Raph shook his head. He must have been insane to even consider the thought of Sam being involved with the group down below.  
Leo could tell that something was bugging his brother and he quickly glanced in the same direction that Raph had been looking, and that's when he also noticed the bulge. Instantly he had the same thoughts as Raph but…he had to be wrong, right? She had just told them the stories of her family and how all their lives were either changed or stolen by the Foot…unless it was all a front. NO! How could he even think that?  
"It can't be her" Raph stated softly.  
Leo turned towards his younger brother who must have easily read his mind in order for him to say such a thing.  
"I know…the timing is just really…ironic" he replied. He paused and closed his eyes and took a moment to wipe all these emotional thoughts from his mind before entering the battle. If Raph could read him so easily, something that was usually a difficult task for anyone to complete accurately, then obviously his emotions were affecting his tactics and skills. He opened his eyes, took a breath, and signaled to the brothers to attack.

"SHIT, RUN!" the leader shouted as soon as the turtles leaped down from the shadows above.  
The boys assumed that these newbs weren't very skilled since they were retreating rather than advancing towards their enemy. This was a first for the boys, but that wasn't a reason to allow the thieves to escape.  
Soldiers started running towards the vehicles while others starting attacking from afar, slowly moving backwards so that they could try to escape. Kunai knives and shuriken stars were hurled at the boys, but to the turtles this was just like basic training at home with Splinter. Raph started making his way over to the side wall where he saw the leader run and dash behind a dumpster. He wanted to trust Sam so badly, and if he was wrong then he would never disrespect her like this ever again…but he needed clear confirmation that this wasn't her. He felt like shit as he started sprinting towards the dumpster, but he just needed to know.  
He sensed movement from up ahead and was able to dodge two large trash cans that had been launched up in the air that were about to crash down where he was running. When he looked forward again he was shocked to see the huge dumpster itself sliding towards him at rapid speed. He leaped and rolled away, wondering how the heck the supposedly human soldier was able to move an entire dumpster. That's when he saw the leader running back towards the cars. Raph quickly got up and pulled out a chain-sickle from his side holsters and using all his strength he launched the chain and weight at the end towards the escapee, and it wrapped perfectly around their ankle as they collapsed. Raph smirked at the careless and distracted soldier as he quickly made his way over towards them. Of course they got themselves loose quite quickly, which was to be expected, but Raph was already swinging his sais at the leader. He was confused by this soldier's tactic. Instead of trying to attack him head on, they were only fighting defensively. He also realized that the soldier hadn't thrown knives or anything sharp at him when he approached their spot by the dumpster, but rather objects that might momentarily knock him unconscious. He tried to stay focused, but like his older brother said, everything was just too ironic. Since his opponent wasn't moving towards him, he put his sais away and decided to use hand-to-hand combat skills. This way he could try to remove their mask and he could finally feel relief when being proven wrong at thinking this could be his friend. He noticed a pattern amongst the soldier in that they kept glancing towards the side, almost like they were trying to check up on their other soldiers. That was his moment. Raph waited for a clear moment to lunge forward, and just like he anticipated, the soldier glanced to the side and screamed 'no' as they saw a comrade get knocked out by Donatello from afar. Raph took advantage of this moment and he acted so quickly that he didn't even have a chance to recognize the familiar voice. He put the leader into a headlock and swiftly removed their mask, and just like that, Raph lost all feeling in his body.

He couldn't feel his arms to keep his hold on the girl, he couldn't feel his legs to try and run away, he couldn't feel any part of his body to try and attack or to run away. He was stunned, the sight in front of him shocking him to the point that he was frozen solid. His fear had come true. The person he had come to trust had lied. He wasn't sure how much of it was a lie, but he knew that somewhere along the line everything had become a farce. He felt played, betrayed, and everything in between. He was instantly filled her anger, hate, rage, and he wanted to ball his fists up and throw a punch at the person in front of him because of it, but he was so frozen that he couldn't even do that, and he couldn't even feel the solid kick from the foot that was now connecting with his plastron. He was facing Sam, and he was now being attacked with a spin kick technique that he had taught Mikey and that had then been passed onto Sam.

The kick launched Raph backwards. It wasn't as forceful as when the dumpster had been sent sliding along the ground moments ago, but it still knocked him off his feet and made him travel a decent distance away from his original spot. Even as the girl ran away, Raph couldn't chase after her. He just stood up, watching her run away and yell to the other soldiers to drive away and look at them with concern in her eyes. Why hadn't she looked at him that way? When her face was revealed she had nothing but fear in her eyes, fear from being caught. And then when she kicked him, anger was etched into her expression, so why did she seem more concerned about these soldiers than she did about him?  
 _"It was a lie all along, all of it, and we all fell for it."_ Raph thought to himself.  
Raph watched from afar as Sam gave instructions to the other soldiers before they all began to drive away. He then saw Leo run over and punch Sam in the forehead, knocking her out cold. He closed his eyes and hoped that this was all a dream, but his brother's shouts and Leo's commands woke him up, forcing him to return to this nightmare.

 ***Later that night, back at the lair*  
Themes:  
TOP-Oh Mom  
BAP-Voicemail  
Super Junior-Don't Leave Me  
Lady Gaga-Million Reasons  
Hurts-Illuminated**

Sam slowly started to open her eyes. She felt groggy and was grossed out by the faint smell of blood. Her eyes finally opened all the way and she realized where she was. Both her wrists and ankles were handcuffed and bound together with twist ties, and rope kept her back and thighs bound to the chair that she was sitting in as well. Her head tilted forward now that she had conscious control of her body movements, or at least the little bit of body control that she still had, and she recognized the room around her: the dojo. She winced as her head started pounding from the head movement even though it had been slow.  
"You're lucky. I would have made the punch hurt way more" said a low and gruff voice from the round circular dojo entrance.  
Sam was afraid to turn her head and face him, so she kept facing forward. How was she supposed to look at Raph after what she had done? She wanted to explain everything to him now that her worst fear had come true, but she had a feeling that wasn't the type of conversation he wanted to have right now.  
"Nothing to say huh? What, you run out of lies?" he asked, anger clearly stated in his tone.  
Sam paused and tried to choose her words carefully, trying her hardest not to set him off.  
"I don't want to fight-"  
"Oh really?" he asked, sarcastically laughing, "you don't want to fight? Huh, that's odd, since you took all that time to train with us and have Mikey teach you pretty much all that we know, and then take that and add it to whatever you've learned from your pals over at Foot headquarters."  
"I promise you that there's an explanation-"  
"I don't want to hear shit from you" he said as he slowly shook his head. "Do you actually think I'll listen to a damn thing you say after that stunt you pulled back there?"  
Sam was trying to stay calm, but not being able to explain was really beginning to frustrate her. She knew this was all her fault, but she wanted to prove to him that things weren't as they seemed. "There's a reason that I pulled that stunt back there."  
"Yeah, it's called being a stone cold liar."  
"It's not that lies were being told, it's that truths weren't."  
"Really? Because I was told, actually all of us including the man you call your best friend were told that you were heading to a soccer tournament, yet we hear on t.v. that you never showed up, and then where do we find you? Judging Foot soldiers while wearing a leader armband, which states that you've reached high ranks in the Foot clan, which means you've been there for a long time. Yeah Sam that doesn't sound like lying at all."  
"*sigh* you don't know the full story Raph. And an armband doesn't mean shit, they're basically handed out to soldiers in the New York branch."  
"You'd know, wouldn't you?"  
 _"Shit"_ Sam thought. Already her frustrated emotions were taking their toll on her and she was thinking and acting based on them rather than with intelligence.  
"That's now what I meant and you know it."  
"No, no I don't. I don't know jack shit about you and your sappy sob story of a past, and I don't want to."  
Sam paused. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked softly.  
"It means that I see through your act and I know that everything you've ever said was nothing but bull."  
She finally looked over at him and looked him straight in the eyes. "That's not true, I swear on my life that's not true."  
"Sorry kid, I'm not trusting a damn thing you say anymore."  
Sam began to clench her fists. It was one thing for him to hate on her (after all, she did deserve it) but she would not tolerate anyone speaking in such an ill manner about her family.  
"Raph, you have every reason to hate me, and I don't blame you for feeling that way. I should have told you guys when I had the chance-"  
"Actually you shouldn't have met us, ever. Heh, I knew I was right about you all along, but Mikey, the innocent idiot that he is, he trusted you. And then that made Leo want to attempt to trust you because 'it would be safer for all of us.' YUP. This is definitely safer! We let a Foot soldier learn our practice routines and we let them figure out where we live. I'll go get my calendar and you can tell me what date to save for when the rest of your joke of a clan comes and visits my fists."

"Silent again huh?"  
Sam couldn't help but begin to glare at him. "I'm not going to talk to you when you're like this."  
"Like what Sam? Pissed off that I openly let someone betray me? Frustrated that I kept telling people not to trust you yet here we are in the situation we all feared? Enraged by the fact that I believed all your crap about your dead siblings?"  
"It wasn't crap" Sam stated, moving her body as she tried to break free from these restraints. She was already getting choked up from the situation she was in, but all these chains and ties were making her feel suffocated. She realized her tech glove was gone, but there was still a small teeny tiny little needle inside her uniforms sleeve and she gently pricked her finger with it, waiting for the small drop of liquid to spread throughout her body.  
"Well how the heck would I know? Since you made it clear that the Foot were number one on your hate list and yet here you are wearing their uniform," he said as he shook his head. "You must think we're a bunch of idiots."  
"Only when you don't listen."  
"Oh you want me to listen to you, just like how your 'best friend' did?" Raph said, holding up his fingers to make quotes as he said 'best friend,' "Wow, you took advantage of Mikey and his kind-hearted nature and you STILL want to attempt to make that plan work. I'm sure this is really going to screw him up. Here you had a real brother and you betrayed him for some fake ones."  
Sam pushed her arms out and tried to break free again, but failed. "My brothers aren't fake, everything I told you about them and their deaths was true."  
"Come up with some new material" Raph snapped.  
Sam was really getting fed up with this. She didn't want to hurt Raph, but he was really pushing her towards her limit.  
"You better watch your mouth."  
"Or what? Are you going to put me in a fake grave as well? Dang, that's lower than low. I'd be embarrassed if I was your fake siblings. Hell, I think I'd be happier being dead than having to live knowing that I'm related to you" he snarled.  
And that was it, the breaking point.  
The mutagen on the needle now kicked in and Sam had massive amounts of strength surging through her. It couldn't be seen from the outside physically, but her actions made it known that something was wrong. Sam ripped her arms and legs through every rope, chain, and wire that had been holding them down. Her entire body was free, and now she charging at Raph. Emotions took over and reason was locked away from her thoughts. Reason was banging on the door, trying to be let back in, but rage was throwing a party and he was on a high that he wasn't coming back down from anytime soon.  
"Woooow, true words from a sidekick. No wonder your own father didn't choose you as leader. Your tactics are controlled by your anger and they make you look like an idiot, it's comical" Sam barked.  
"They're better than whatever techniques are being forced down your throat from the Foot" Raph barked back.  
"Really? Them why am I the one with a leader's armband?" Sam asked, a wicked smile forming on her face. On the inside she hated what she was doing, but Raph had picked at her deepest wound, so she was doing the same to him, and this side of her was what was visible on the outside.  
"You think you're so tough now? Because what I saw earlier was a wimpy excuse for a leader. You couldn't even throw a single punch! All you did was cower in fear" he said as he started walking towards her.  
"Punches? Holy shit, you don't think with anything but your fists do you? Another reason you'll never be a leader, enemies see through you when all you use is the same brute strength attack again and again. No wonder Shredder kicked your ass" Sam said as she also started walking towards Raph.  
They both walked forward and with their right arms punched each other square in the jaw. Both were taken aback, and if Raph was thinking clearly, he would have questioned how Sam was able to hit him with the same amount of power that he had hit her, and he would have also questioned how this punch hadn't knocked her out cold like it always did, but obviously Raph wasn't thinking clearly.  
"One crack on my shell is getting my ass kicked? Shredder must have you all types of fucked up to believe that."  
"Takes a little bitch to know what it's like to get fucked up, right Raph?"  
"Look at you trying to act tough, it's as sad as the lie about your fake dead family."  
"You know what they say about guys that talk big? They're small in other places. Makes sense, trying to make up for what you don't have."  
"Oh I'm sure you know what plenty looks like after all you've done. I'm sure your innocence is just an act to, another mark on your list of lies."  
"At least I could get some if I wanted to, you'll be stuck down here for the rest of your life. Who the hell would be dumb enough to want you? You'd probably bore and then beat your woman to death since your fists are larger than your brain."  
"Cut the act Sam. You're so stuck between your innocent and tough guy acts that you're just spouting a bunch of bullshit. You're so broken that you don't even know what you're saying!"  
"You wanna see stuck? You want to experience being broken?! Well welcome to my life asshole!"  
It was like the flash ran by. Raph saw nothing but blue from Sam's eyes before seeing nothing but black darkness. The impact from the kick sent him flying backwards so quickly that he literally saw nothing and wasn't able to see again until he was on the other side of the room. At first he felt nothing, but within seconds he felt pain surging through his body. His chest hurt like crazy and his head was pounding like nothing he had ever felt before, and his shell, his shell was literally stuck in the wall. For the first time ever in his life, Raph was truly terrified. He kept trying to pull himself forward, but the kick had left him so weak that he could barely move. It was too late, but he was finally starting to think logically, and he realized how screwed he was. _  
"What the hell was that?! How was she able to attack me like that? That speed, that strength! And I swear I just saw her brown eyes turn blue!"_ Raph thought to himself as he kept trying to free himself from the wall.  
*SLAM*  
A mix of fear and shock prevented Raph from turning to see the huge hole Sam's fist had made in the wall, right next to where his head was. What he did see was that she had found her tech glove (it had been behind him on the weapons wall) and she was putting it back on. It was a bit different this time though. On the bottom of her forearm was usually just the black flexible webbed material, but now there was a thin metal strip that trailed down to the underside of her arm, and on the top part of her arm where the strip started was a small flat circular piece. He wondered what this was for and if this addition had anything to do with her new power, but his attention was very quickly directed back towards the girl as she began shouting at him.  
"God you're such an idiot!" Sam shouted as she slammed her other fist against the wall near Raph's head again, but this time on the opposite wall. "You can't keep your mouth shut for like five god damn seconds to just let me explain!" She then took a step back as her hands flew up and grabbed onto the side of her head. She seemed to be in pain as her eyes turned bright blue once again, all the brown color instantly disappearing. Sam looked back up at and glared at Raph as her eye color started to fade back to normal. Raph felt a chill run down his spine as he saw the girl's expression. He had never seen her look at anyone like that before and he knew that something was making her not like herself. He quickly began to have doubts about all he had said and he regretted letting his anger and confusion get the best of him, but the damage was done, and he knew that whatever came next was all his own fault.  
"Why…Why can't you just learn to shut up and listen?!" Sam shouted, still standing in place where she was now a few steps away from Raph. "Do you honestly think I wanted this? You think that I openly joined that shitty clan? I'd rather die than loyally join them! But you wouldn't know that because you can't keep your mouth shut!"  
Sam now slowly started walking forward.  
"Sam, wait-"  
"SHUT UP!" As Sam screamed out, forceful wind gusts flew out to the sides of her body. "You don't know anything, god there's still so much that you don't yet know and understand. But hey, months of getting to know someone obviously doesn't mean shit to you. Someone telling you about the most terrifying and scarring parts of their life obviously DOESN'T MEAN SHIT to you. Watching someone breakdown in front of you, open their heart to you, you saw all of that fist hand, and how do you react? You degrade that person's family and call them a liar! This is why I didn't come to you guys in the first place, I knew you would react this way, ESPECIALLY YOU! I knew I made the right decision when I did and you've given me all the proof I need that I never should have trusted you EVER. You know how trapped you feel right now, that fear of not being able to control a damn thing that's about to happen to you? I've been living that way since Thursday night. Wrong, I've been living that way my entire life! You're right, my life is so fucked up that I am broken, and now you're going to know what it's like to be broken to."  
Raph's eyes went wide as he saw Sam take quick steps towards him as she lifted her arm up, ready to throw another nasty punch at his face. She moved quickly, but not quick enough. Mikey had suddenly appeared and hooked his arms within Sam's and with the momentum of her movements, he was able to forcefully pull her back. She stumbled back a few steps and instantly her expression softened as she saw him, but before she could react any further, Leo had jumped in and kicked her with as much force as he possibly could. Sam was sent flying towards the other side of the room and crashed into the wall. Her head was pounding and her back was as sore as ever. Again, before she could react in any type of way, Donatello had rushed over, and using his bo staff, he pushed Sam up and was pinning her neck against the wall, suffocating her as he did so.  
"Oh my god…" Mikey mumbled, barely able to speak from the shock he was in from the sight in front of him.  
"Raph? Raph?!" Leo shouted as he tried pulling his brother out of the wall.  
Mikey aided his older brother and within another minute Raph was free. He collapsed under Mikey's hold once he was free. He was conscious, but just barely, and he had no real control over his body at the moment, all his energy focused on just keeping himself awake.  
Donnie finally eased up and let Sam's body fall to the floor with a hard thud. She gasped for air as color returned to her face.  
Donnie and Leo quickly switched spots. Donnie rushed over and began looking Raph over for any major injuries. He checked his pulse and it seemed rather high, but it was gradually going back to normal. He then pulled out a small hand held x-ray device and checked to see if his brother had any serious internal damage. Luckily nothing was broken or torn which meant that he might have some serious sores and bruises, but nothing life threatening had happened to him.  
Hearing Donnie sigh out in relief signaled to Leo and Mikey that everything was going to be okay, but that relief quickly switched back over to rage.  
Leo looked down at Sam who looked like she was about to stand up, that is, until a katana was pulled out and was held in front of her face.  
Sam looked up at Leo and then back over at Raph. "No…" Sam was mortified. Even though Donnie had signaled that Raph would be okay, she knew that nothing was truly okay in this situation. She couldn't believe what she had just done. Even if Raph had acted like a prick, he was still her friend, he was her brother, how could she have let herself get so carried away? How could she let her emotions get the best of her like this?  
"Don't say anything" Leo snarled.  
Sam had never seen Leo or Donnie look as vicious as they did now, and she couldn't even look at Mikey in fear of what his expression would reveal.  
"I can explain-"  
"I said don't talk!" Leo shook his head. "You never could listen, could you?"  
Sam's hands were shaking like crazy, and she was sweating more than she ever had in her entire life. She felt so many emotions, but more than anything she was afraid of losing everything she had just finally found. She needed these guys, she needed this family, HER family…or at least what was her family. Sam kept trying to explain, things just couldn't end like this, not without the guys at least understanding the reasons for why all of this chaos had happened.  
"Leo please," Sam softly said "I can explain-"  
"I don't want to hear your explanation, it's too late for that. We leave to go discuss how we should handle 'you,' and we have to rush back because you can't control yourself. I don't know what is and isn't true about you anymore, but I WILL NOT give you any more chances to harm my family." He spoke in a bitter tone and never ceased from holding his katana right in front of his face.  
Sam knew that she had hurt everyone in the room one way or another and that she had no right to speak or to fight in defending herself, but right now she was so desperate to not lose these guys. She needed them whether they wanted to believe it or not, and she wasn't leaving without sharing her side of the story.  
"Leo please just listen to me, I didn't mean for this to happen. The reason I hid from you guys was to prevent this from happening."  
"Because that worked" Donnie said maliciously. Sam had never heard him talk in such a tone before which emphasized how out of control things had become.  
"I'm sorry…"  
"You think an apology is enough to fix this?" Donnie asked sourly, scrunching up his face as he glared at her. He shook his head at her. "You can't undo this, you'll never be able to get past this, and we'll never forgive you for this."  
"I know, but please-" she begged before getting cut off.  
"Then you know it's time to leave."  
Sam rapidly shook her head. "No. Not yet, not without at least explaining-"  
"We. Don't. Care" Leo stated cruelly.  
Sam balled her hands up into fists. "After all of that, I'm not leaving until you at least know why it happened." Sam was beginning to grow a temper again. She fought as hard as she could to control it so that she wouldn't hurt anyone else, but nothing could prevent the sour tone that was now coming from her own voice.  
"If you dare to even raise a fist, I'll cut it off" Leo stated through gritted teeth.  
"I didn't know what to do and I didn't know how you would react so I thought-"  
"Just get out Sam!" Donnie shouted.  
"No! Not until-"  
"Just go," Mikey mumbled out as he stared at the floor in front of him.  
And that was all that needed to be said. Sam quickly glanced over at her friend, searching for a sign that he didn't mean what he said, or even that she had misheard him. But she heard him correctly, and for the first time ever since they had met, Mikey was kicking her out. This was the final blow, the breaking point, the act that sent her over the edge. Those two words were all that needed to be said to signal to Sam that this was the end. After everything that she had shared with the turtles, after the tears she had shed in front of them, after all she went through in opening up to them and telling them the entire truth about her past, the only people she had ever confided in with such details would no longer be part of her life, ever. Once she left the room she knew she would never see or talk to them ever again. It would go back to how things were before she had met them, but this time it would be even worse. She had gained four more brothers, and once again her family was being ripped away from her thanks to the Foot clan. There was still so much they didn't know, but none of that mattered now. She knew that they didn't care and they never would and they just wanted to make her a made up bad dream of the past, and she decided that she better start living with that mindset as well as she stared at the floor and slowly began to rise to her feet. She didn't speak and her hands weren't shaking anymore as she stood up and began walking towards the exit. She made sure not to look at any of the boys as she left, knowing it would instantly lead to tears flowing from her eyes, so she stared straight ahead and exited the room without ever looking back once. She hoped and would have begged for any of them, especially Mikey, to have stopped her…but not a word was spoken as she walked towards the exit.

After Sam had left the room, the dojo was filled with nothing but silence. The usually loud and chaotic room was now so silent that you could hear a pin drop. All three boys helped get Raph to his room and by that time he was starting to recuperate some. Once that was settled, all four brothers wondered off to their rooms, each wanting to be alone after all that had happened that night. Each one would view and handle the situation differently from the others, which unknowingly would lead to more tension, but for now, they all just wanted to be by themselves and try their best to control their emotions and their thoughts before it led any of them to do something they'd regret.

 **Sorry this chapter is so short. This was originally supposed to be part of the previous chapter, but after I had planned everything out I felt that it would be best to write them separately.**

 **I hope you guys liked this chapter. I've been anticipating this part of the story for a while now and I can't believe I've actually reached this point in the story. I'm sorry if it's rude to ask this, but if possible could you guys leave some type of feedback as to how you felt when reading this chapter? I try my best to keep the turtles in character and if possible I'd like to know if it seems that I'm still doing that or if it seems like I'm stretching things a bit, like to a point where a reader would think "whoa there's no way so-and-so character would say/do that!"**

 **Also, was the fighting and arguing scene alright? I wanted it to be intense and rough because that's what this whole situation is and it's going to have a huge impact on the turtles and how they handle what has happened, but at the same time I didn't want to go overboard and make Raph and Sam seem like twisted psycho killers or anything like that. I really wanted to hone in on how each character would feel and would react in these moments, so hopefully the way the fights went down was alright for you guys.**

 **Again, thank you guys for sticking with me so far and your feedback means the world to me it truly does. I'll see you guys again in the next chapter**


	21. Chapter 21

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #21

 ***Wednesday Aug. 6** **th** **(2 days later) Foot headquarters, dorm rooms***

Sam was facing the wall as she lay on the bed of her dorm room. She really didn't want to get up, but she knew that her break was just about over and that she would have to join everyone for training again soon. Not only that, but she hadn't been punished for what had happened just a couple days previous, and she knew her time was coming soon. She then heard the door open up, bringing some light into the pitch black room.  
"Hey, I don't want you to get in anymore trouble, so please start getting ready for training, okay?" Jay said softly. Sam had told him what had happened with the turtles and he knew that she was still mentally and emotionally sore from them banning her from their lives. He hated that all of this was his fault and that there was nothing he could do to fix it, but at least now he could be with his sister 24/7, and now was the time for him to be the supportive big brother that he needed to be. He walked over and sat next to his sister who was still lying down and he put his hand on her shoulder.  
"I know you're hurting, trust me I know, but one day a time will come when everything will be avenged and everything will be alright again. If they're really your friends then they'll eventually understand and then things will go back to normal" he said, gently rubbing Sam's shoulder to help soothe and comfort her.  
She slowly turned over and looked up at him. "You didn't see their faces Jay, I've never seen any of them look like that before. It was made extremely clear where I stand with them, and regardless of whether they ever forgive me or not, now that Shredder knows I knew them he'll constantly be using me as a way to track them down and hurt them. Being friends with them will just put a target on their backs."  
"I know it's not easy…but I remember that phone call the one made on the night of the anniversary. No matter how mad someone may get, people don't forget moments like what you all shared together that night. If he's really anything like Nick, then he didn't mean what he said the other night, and soon he'll come to regret it. And that orange one, after all you told me about him, I'd be shocked if he truly wanted you to leave. Trust me when I say that I've been through some crazier shit than what you dealt with, but eventually everything works out in the end. Plus, after them seeing you in that way without an explanation like that, maybe some space between all of you is actually the best thing. Even the best of friends argue."  
She quickly shot an angry look at him. "This was more than just-!"  
"I know it was more than just an argument, but the principle still stands. I know there's a lot on your mind and I know you're wishing you could redo everything that went wrong, but an appropriate time will come to handle all of that, but if you don't get focused soon then you'll be punished worse than…" Jay then sat forward, his elbows resting on his knees while his hands cupped his mouth. He tried to stay composed, but knowing that Shredder was not pleased with what had happened, Jay knew that Sam would be harshly punished, and there was nothing he could do at this point to prevent that. He had even offered to take his sisters place in the punishment, but Shredder said that that wouldn't be enough and right after he had forced Jay into an immediate dismissal from the subject.  
Now it was Sam's turn to comfort her suffering older brother. She sat up and put laid her head on his right shoulder.  
"Hey, I've been training with various people for years now. I'm a tough girl Jay, I can handle and push through whatever he has to offer" she said with confidence.  
Jay fought not to cry since training was about to start soon, but past memories were what scared him most.  
"I've been punished, multiple times. I'm afraid he'll do even worse to you. Please just…be respectful and don't show him any emotion. Don't snap, don't argue, just get through it as soon as possible. Don't give him a reason to make things longer or worse for you. I love you Sam, and I'll be here to take care of you as soon as it's over. I'm…I'm sorry I'm failing you, again" he said as he began tearing up.  
Sam hugged him, comforting him so that he could calm down sooner.  
"It's not your fault, none of it ever was. You're tougher than anyone I've ever met and I'm so proud to call you my brother. Your love and support is the reason I'll be able to survive tonight."  
Jay tightly hugged his sister back for the last minute they would have with each other until late that night. Afterwards, they both stood up, exited the room, and then went their separate ways.

Sam walked to a room where she would be practicing hand-to-hand combat and then later on practice with various ninja tools. She saw one of her new friends just entering the room and Sam crouched down and quickly snuck up behind her. She then leaped onto the purple salamander who then flipped her forward in the process, but not too forcefully, so Sam was able to keep her footing and land without falling onto her face or back.  
"What the heck is wrong with you?" Mona scowled.  
"I'm your leader, so I have to test and make sure you can defend yourself" Sam said proudly.  
"By acting like a child?" Mona asked, smiling while shaking her head. "Besides, from what I heard, you lost your leaders band, so you're just one of us now. Which means I can beat the crap out of you" she said with a wicked smile.  
The two then started playfully wrestling until some more of their friends joined in on the fight.  
*gasp!* Sam's in trouble, I'll protect you my friend!" Umeko shouted as she ran over and leaped onto Mona Lisa.  
Ninjara turned to see what all the commotion was about and quickly ran over and tackled Sam, putting her into a headlock. "Come on, you can do better than that! This is pathetic" she teased.  
The teasing worked and Sam kicked her leg back, kicking the fox in the back of the knee and having her fall, and within that split second Sam freed herself and then quickly switched the positions so that she was now holding Ninjara in a headlock.  
"Who's pathetic now?" she asked.  
"You!" shouted Titian, the lighter green colored turtle, who then used his foot to push Sam off on Ninjara.  
Sam laughed as she stood back up. "Dude, whose side are you on?"  
"I help whichever lady is being attacked" he said with pride.  
"Playboy" Ninjara mumbled with a smile. "But what will you do when it's you who needs to be saved?" and just like that, she was now holding Titian in a headlock.  
Just then, Bramante, the older and darker colored twin brother to Titian, and Sally Pride walked into the room.  
Bramante walked over and gently nudged Ninjara off his brother and then helped both of them up. He gave them a look that let them know that this was not the time to be playing around (because if it was play time, he totally would have joined in).  
"Alright ladies and gentleman of all species, hand-to-hand is starting in 30 seconds, so unless you want Tatsu to use you as his personal punching bag today, you better get in position!" Sally Pride shouted, and everyone in the room sprinted to get in line, ready for when their instructor entered the room.

Sam looked down the line and was shocked to see that all her friends ended up being in the exact same room for the exact same training session today. Shredder had thousands of recruits (both by choice and by force) within the building, so it was shocking that literally ALL of her 'closest' friends within the Foot clan were in the same session as her. She had a feeling that this was Shredder's way of 'being nice' to her before he beat the shit out of her.

In the room were:

The Asian crew that she had known since childhood: Key, Kris, Kyle, Kevin, and Ken.

The short brown haired triplets: Clay, Thomas, and Tori.

A mixed boy named Ryan, his one year younger sister Angel, and their cousin Ashley who was the same age as Angel.

A tall thin boy with light orange and brown colored hair named Brad, and his one year younger sister with orange hair named Brianna.

A brown curly haired girl named Sarah and her one year younger sister with similar hair named Amanda.

A Japanese girl (who was actually sent from the branch in Tokyo) named Lotus.

A brown haired girl named Sofia, though her nickname was Shadow since she excelled in staying hidden in the shadows and never being seen.

A blonde haired girl named Jillian Amante.

A young Asian girl with short black hair named Lindsey Baker.

A blonde haired girl named Kate.

A darker skinned girl with long black wavy hair named Tara.

A blonde haired girl named Becca.

A darker skinned boy named Josh.

A boy with slightly spiked brown hair named Aaron.

A boy with short brown hair named Nathan.

A tan skinned boy with spiked black hair named Tyler.

A reddish purple colored female turtle named Chompy.

Two male twin turtles. Bramante was the older and darker colored green brother, and Titian was the younger and lighter colored green twin.

The four mutant frog brothers. Atilla and Rasputin, both a forest green color, Ghenghis who was a lighter yellow color, and then Napoleon who was the darkest shade of green.

Two female fox sisters. Ninjara had darker brown and orange colored fur, and her year younger sister, Umeko, had lighter orange fur.

Mondo, a yellow gecko with black polka dots, and his girlfriend Candy, a bright blue gecko with red polka dots.

A female salamander with purple skin named Mona Lisa.

A female cat with pink and blue pastel colored fur named Sprinkles.

An orange and white Akita Inu dog named Hachiko.

A female arctic fox with snow white fur named Alopex.

Overall, all of her closer friends within the clan were here. The only ones that were missing were the siblings of her human friends who were closer friends with Jay, and the more adult aged members of the Mutanimals. Sally Pride, a lioness who was one of the more mature and adult members of the Mutanimals, was one of the leaders for the teenage mutants, so she was also here to help keep them in line during training.  
Including Sam and excluding Sally, there were 43 soldiers for this training session. This again let Sam know that something was up since the schedules made it known that for the first few hours of physical training everybody would be in small groups, and over 40 people was obviously not a small group.  
Just then, Tatsu walked in. Everyone stood up straight and still in line since by now everyone knew not to get on his bad side. Tatsu looked at Sam and an evil smile formed on his face. "Ahh, so that's why I have such a large group this morning. Alright, line up at the course behind you and I want each of you to run through it 3 times. If you fall in the water, then your 3 times starts all over again. Hajime!"  
Everyone walked to the course behind them that stretched from one side of the room to the other.  
They each took their turns and completed the exercise rather quickly. Apparently Tatsu didn't realize that everyone in his group (excluding Sam though she was still an incredible ninja) had been in the clan for months at a time or even longer, so this course was a piece of cake and truly was nothing but a warm-up to them. After they each successfully completed their three rounds, Tatsu decided to be nice enough to give them a 5 minute water break before they continued, and he also decided to be nice and leave the room so that the teens could converse for these five minutes before they had to train in silence (from gossiping that is) for the remainder of the hour and a half they had left.

"Hey," Kris said as he ran over and walked next to Sam, "why did he look at you when he said that? What happened?" he asked with concern flooding through his voice.  
"Nothing, I just fucked up and got caught."  
"Are you going to explain what that means?" he asked, frustration mixing with the concern in his voice.  
By this time everyone was sitting in a large circle, listening to what had happened to their friend.  
"So, you know how the newbs were sent on their robberies for their initiation?"  
"Yeah."  
"Well, some guests that I prayed wouldn't show up decided to show up, and I was worried about the newbs and got distracted and I was de-masked" she said as she bit her lip, hating that that night's memories were now flooding through her mind.  
"Wait, you saw them?!" he asked with wide eyes.  
"Oh no" Key said, "That couldn't have gone well."  
"What happened Sam?" Chompy asked.  
"Well, they were pissed. So they knocked me out after I had commanded the newbies to leave without looking back, and I got into an argument with one of them-"  
"It was red, wasn't it? I bet it was! I've seen him before and he looks like bad news!" Thomas shouted.  
"Oh please, you think they're all bad news" Tori said as she rolled her eyes at her brother.  
"He is the hothead of their group though, so it's very likely it was him" Clay, the third of the triplets, added to the conversation.  
"Thank you detectives" Sam said loudly and bluntly, "I love the input" she chuckled. "But yeah, the others were off somewhere and he and I…shared some words."  
"How are you handling that?" Nathan asked with a sorrowful expression.  
Sam nodded. "I'd lie if I said I was taking it well. I'm just...scared."  
"That they'll come after you?" Rasputin asked, scrunching up his face in anger as he thought of someone wanting to harm the girl.  
"Scared of what I was able to do. I…I could have killed him. If Mikey hadn't stopped me, I literally could have smashed Raph's face in." Sam brought her knees up to her chin as she shuddered when thinking of what she had almost done just a couple of nights before.  
"Sadly it happens, especially when testing out that mutagen. Shredder doesn't even know where it comes from, but he has his teams test them all out as they're randomly sent to him, and the results aren't always pretty" said Lindsey.  
"It wasn't just me losing control from the mutagen and from my emotions, it was that they literally kicked me out of their lives forever. I've never seen any of them look or heard them talk like they had that night. It felt like I had just lost four more siblings. I don't think I can keep experiencing that anymore…"  
"Well, here's one way you can think about it. If they're pissed at you, then they won't chase after you for a while, which means they won't get all mixed up in this Foot business. It's better knowing they're safe than knowing they're going to follow you and get themselves caught!" Ryan shouted as he turned towards his sister, Angel, and then towards his cousin, Ashley. Both girls were of the same age and were both similar when it came to their curious and excited ways.  
Angel rolled her eyes. "What were you expecting when I saw you disappear randomly each night? Did you honestly expect me to just ignore that my brother was obviously in some type of trouble?" she asked in an annoyed manner.  
"Yes! That's exactly what I wanted to happen, for you to ignore it and keep living! Then you wouldn't have gotten wrapped up in this mess, and of course miss 'monkey see monkey do' over there had to follow you!" he said as he pointed at Ashley who put her hand on her chest, pretending to be taken aback by his comment.  
"Who, me? I wasn't following Angel, she was captured by the Purple Dragons…I went a different way and was captured by that one over there" she said as she pointed at Lotus, who then made an awkward smile.  
"Sorry, it's my job" Lotus said.  
"Don't worry, I learned the hard way what happens when you don't follow an order, so I understand" Ashley said as she shot an understanding smile in the other girls direction.

"ALRIGHT! Bottles down and get into position. Higher level students, teach to the class the moves you have learned."  
Sally Pride stood next to Tatsu the entire time, though she loathed being anywhere near the man after all he had done to them, but orders were orders, and this wasn't as bad as other things she had to do.  
One at a time down the row, the soldiers who had been taught some higher level techniques took their turn to teach it to the rest of the class, and the next soldier could not step forward to teach until everyone was able to demonstrate the move well enough to Tatsu's liking. Because of how large this group was, this took up the rest of the time for this group.  
"Alright, each of you is making progress. You're lucky that I'm able to send a good report to our Sensei today. You may all move to your next location."  
Tatsu bowed and all the others bowed in return before dispersing throughout the building to where their next training session would be. Everyone pulled out their schedules so they could figure out who was in their next group and walk together to their next location.  
Sam looked at her schedule and cupped her hands around her mouth as she shouted "who is going to speed training?!"  
"MEEEEEEE YEAAHHHHh!" Mondo shouted. He gave his girlfriend a kiss goodbye before she left with her group and then he sprinted over towards Sam, as he then leaped onto her back since he was shorter than her.  
"Let's do this!" Titian shouted as he ran over.  
"Let's go!" Umeko shouted as the two then high fived.  
Ninjara and Bramante shook their heads.  
"You know them?" the older fox asked.  
"Never seen them before in my life" the older turtle replied, both receiving pouty faces from their younger siblings.  
Once they were all there, the group consisted of: Kevin, Brad, Lotus, Titian, Bramante, Atilla, Ghenghis, Ninjara, Umeko, Mondo, Sprinkles, Hachiko, and Alopex.  
"Alright kids, I'm going to be training with you guys in the next group, so follow me to the next room, okay?" Sally Pride said as she began to lead the way, and all the teenagers followed behind her.  
Sam hadn't gotten a chance to talk to some of her clan friends since she returned to headquarters the other night, so she decided to mess with them a bit, her first target being Kevin.  
"Hey Kevin."  
He turned his head to face her as they all continued walking. "Yeah?"  
"How long were you guys NOT going to tell me that you were all members of the Foot clan even though you saw me in school every single day?" she asked as she sent him a comical yet questioning face.  
"Uhhhh" he said nervously, feeling a bit guilty about the whole situation, "well, never really."  
"Oooh, tension!" Mondo teased, before playfully being kicked by Kevin.  
"How can you do that though? Face someone every day and not tell them that their own brother was forced into joining the clan that killed their family. Please elaborate sir" she teased.  
He bit his lip as he looked at her. "Well, how do you hang out with four 6 foot turtles all the time and not tell anyone about that?" he said with a smirk.  
"Ha I didn't! Because one of them is only 5'8" Sam said, proudly crossing her arms across her chest at her snide remark.  
"Dude that's totally different!" Genghis intervened, thinking back to Kevin's comment and completely and unintentionally ignoring Sam. "From her perspective, no one knew who the turtles were, but YOU and everyone in New York knew who the Foot clan were, and you are one of the many people who knew about what happened to Sam's family and yet you still didn't tell her anything even though you saw her every day."  
"Well shit" Atilla and Bramante said in unison, which got a lot of people to snicker. These two were usually so serious, so hearing them make such comments was seen as hilarious to the others.  
"Whose side are you guys on?" Kevin asked with a laugh.  
"The one with the person who tried to save us and let us free" Alopex said as she turned her head around and smirked at the boy.  
"Sorry all of that went sour and you guys got caught again, I know that had to be a rough return" Sam said as she cringed.  
"It's not your fault" Hachiko said, "there were just way more of them and not enough of us."  
Sam smiled at the mutant dog and then turned back towards Kevin.  
"I still want an explanation as to why I was left in the dark" she said in a playfully stern tone.  
"To be honest, we never wanted you to know, and if there was any way we could have kept it that way then we would have. More than half of the workers all throughout the clan and its positions are here because one family member got caught, and then that lead to either A. other family members chasing after them, or B. the soldier did something wrong and their punishment was to see their family suffer within the clan and its cruel lifestyle, losing any and every freedom they ever had. Jay never wanted that to happen and fought through everything on his own so that you would never end up in this position with the rest of us. When we all found out that you were close to friends of April O'Neil's, we all grew worried that you were friends with the turtles and that that would be the reason you ended up here, and that somewhat came true, but not entirely" Kevin stated.  
"I see…in that sense, thanks to all of you and the others for trying to protect me. I'm sure it's difficult seeing innocent people that could try to help every day and not being able to say a word, for both yours and their protection."  
"Sadly it's just something you get used to" Lotus said, winking at Sam while she scratched the side of her head.  
Mondo saw this gesture and nodded with a smile, excited for their upcoming revolution that was still secretly in the works.  
One of the main reasons Sam had been brought into the clan was so she could aide in the downfall of the New York branch. The plan was still in the works, but having as many strong and worthy revolutionary soldiers was a must, and Sam had taken it upon herself to live with this shitty lifestyle for as long as she needed to in order to save her brother, her friends, the other thousands of New York citizens who were forced into working for Shredder, and the rest of the city that would eventually be destroyed one day once Shredder's army was large enough to take over the entire city in one night.  
"As much as I love to listen to your heart-to-hearts, it's time to be silent. She who must not be named will be our instructor today" Sally said as she rolled her eyes.

The group entered the room and again they were shocked to see that besides for Karai and another mutant, there was no one else in the room. They all had a feeling that their group of friends being the only ones in the room was another 'kind' offering from their leader.  
"Ame," Sally said as she walked over and pat her friend on the shoulder, "watch out for them as best you can. Don't let them do anything stupid."  
"I won't" said the brown furred female cougar with a smile.  
With that, Sally Pride left the room, and Karai stepped forward.  
"Alright children, today you're going to learn about how to increase your punching speed. There's three main rules for this: 1. Cut off the distance. 2. Avoid telegraphing. 3. Stay loose. We're going to practice through all of these steps within the next hour. Partner up."  
Sam ended up partnering up with Brad. He was a year older than her so she hadn't seen him around school a whole lot, but she knew of him and had become a lot closer to him once she joined the clan.  
"Alright rad Brad, show me the muscles of a track runner" she mocked.  
"I'll show you track runner skills if you show me soccer player skills" he mocked back.  
"Oh it's on" she said as they both got into position.

Karai then had everybody practice standing in the correct and ready position for a fist fight and where they should be standing as to not give too much space between opponents, but not to close either. She then taught the teens how to avoid loading up their punches and instead to throw them with a quick flick forward with their arm. Finally, she taught them all how to prevent tensing up their punches and how to keep their punches loose but solid while they followed through. She allowed Ame to walk around and help those who needed it since she knew the cougar, just like the lioness, had become quite skilled since being forced into the clan months ago.  
"Alright, your time is up for the day. Progress has been made, good work soldiers. You will use these skills in your weapons training sessions later this evening" Karai announced.  
Sam's face scrunched up in confusion as she pulled her schedule back out.  
"Do you guys have weapons training on your schedules? I have one more class and I'm done for the day" she said as she passed her schedule around amongst her friends.  
Sprinkles couldn't look at Sam as she spoke to her. "Everyone has a full schedule today Sam. The rest of us won't be done until 10 tonight."  
"Awwww you see that guys? Shredder was kind enough to let me know when he's going to kick my ass today!" Sam shouted with a sarcastic smile.  
"You better watch your tone kid, or else the beating will be worse" Karai said with a glare.  
Sam turned and smiled at the woman. "What? I'm not allowed to respect the organizational skills that my master has? I think he would be disappointed in you for not letting me compliment the all mighty Shredder" Sam said, a mix of confidence and sarcasm in her voice.  
Karai rolled her eyes as she began to exit the room. "Head to the next location before I personally kick your ass" she snarled.  
Sprinkles face displayed all the sorrow she had for what Sam would have to endure later that evening.  
Sam recognized this and pat her friend on the back. "It's alright, I'll be fine. You all survived what you went through and so will I."  
This made the feline cheer up some as she hugged her friend. "Just remember we'll all be here for you when it's over. Whatever happens, don't give up hope. We all love and need you Sam."  
Sam hugged her back, and the two went their separate ways to their next location.

"Hey Sam wait up!" Hachiko called out as he jogged over towards his human friend with a smile.  
Sam couldn't help but smile. "Ahhh they had to pick the cutest dog to mutate didn't they?" she in a childish voice as she scratched the top of the dog's head. Though he was human on the inside, he still had many of his canine instincts, including his love of having his head scratched. He was however a total playboy and used his adorable puppy dog looks to get closer to women.  
 _"Heh, even if he is a mutant, he's such a flirt, just like-"  
_ Sam then froze as she realized what direction her thoughts were heading, and she didn't like it.  
"Earth to Sam!" Brad said as he caught up and then waved his hand in front of Sam's eyes. He stopped once he realized she wasn't just joking around. "Sam…?"  
Sam snapped out of her trance and blinked a few times as she recognized what was going on and who was in front of her. "Sorry, what?" she said, faking a smile.  
"You okay?" Brad asked with concern.  
Sam just brushed it off, forcing herself to ignore how she truly felt. "Yeah I'm fine, I was just wondering how a childish puppy can flirt with so many women" she said as she playfully pushed the dog away.  
This new group now consisted of Sam, Kevin, Brad, Genghis, and Hachiko.  
"Alright nerds, let's head to the lab" Genghis said as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.  
No one truly enjoyed any job they had to complete within the clan, but depending on that persons individual interests, some jobs were better than others. For some people that were nerdier and were more interested in working with chemicals or with typing in codes on a computer, working in the various laboratories throughout the building wasn't the worst thing in the world. It was the same for those who enjoyed casual exercising activities, they hated the rigorous trainings, but they enjoyed when they were sent to the various gyms throughout the building and basically got to relax while they worked out and built up their muscles, almost like they were at a regular gym…except for the fact that their every single move was monitored by a higher up soldier.

The group of five reached their destination and, for the third time that day, were surprised to see the group that they had been paired with. In this room included these 5, Clay, Ashley, Amanda, Tara, Josh, Nathan, Jillian and Lindsay. Ame was no longer with them, but that was because Leatherhead was already working in this room. He was a giant mutant alligator and appeared to be a rather scary being, but in reality he was one of the sweetest beings Sam had ever met, unless there was something that made him feel threatened in which he truly became one of the most terrifying people ever and someone no one would ever want to mess with.  
"Leatherhead!" Sam shouted as she jogged over and hugged the gator, almost like he was a giant teddy bear (which is exactly how Sam pictured him).  
The gator smiled down at the girl, but then had to look away.  
Sam titled her head in confusion. "What's wrong?"  
"I recently heard about your plans for this afternoon…" he said as he continued to stare at the wall.  
Sam sighed with a smile. She felt horrible that she was worrying and upsetting so many people, but she'd be a liar to say it didn't feel nice to know so many people cared about her and her well-being.  
"Just make sure the rest of you guys are taking care of yourselves. That's the only thing that will truly upset me, is if you guys get hurt because you were worried about me and ignored your jobs, or something like that." She then brought her arm up and scratched the back of her head, making sure that her arm was hiding her lips based on where the security cameras were angled. "Our revenge will come soon enough" she said with a smile. She made sure to switch back to a serious expression before revealing her face to the cameras again.  
Leatherhead gave a small nod. The expression didn't look like much, but they all knew that that was his way of saying that he felt the exact same way.  
"Alright everyone, get your gear on and go to your positions. I've laid out instructions at each station. Let's get to work" Leatherhead announced, and the group of 5 went to a small space towards the back of the room and saw what they needed and where they needed to be.  
Sam quickly put on her smock, gloves, goggles, everything she needed and then walked over towards two other girls. They were walking back and forth between a small walkway. On their left was a table with all types of organized and splayed out small dishes with various type of mutagens, and on their right were closed in stations where they were separated by a see through barrier, but there were spaces where they could still put their arms and any other materials that they needed to enter and exit the space. This way they were safe if any materials exploded or did anything else that would cause harm to the one who was experimenting with them.  
"Alright nerdssssssss, what are we up to today?" Sam asked with a smirk.  
Jillian giggled while Lindsay rolled her eyes and smiled.  
"We're examining the particles in each mutagen, then seeing what happens when we combine them. Based on those results we have to determine whether or not they're safe enough for human trials" Jillian said.  
Sam's goofy expression quickly turned to one of sorrow. "When's that?" she asked dully.  
"Literally tomorrow. Ugh, I'm dreading it" Lindsay said, "whether its criminals or innocents, I can't stand human trials. Sometimes its fine and we can reverse whatever we did to them, but other days it's so bad that we have to put them out of their misery."  
"And of course Shredder doesn't care what happens as long as he gets some good info about the mutagen he can then one day use to create an army. Did you know he's trying to figure out how to use certain deadly mutagens and turn them into weapons?" Jillian asked.  
"Are you serious?" Sam asked as she looked through the microscope lens and then back up at the screen above the closed in space. A chord was connected to the microscope so that any images from the lens were then projected onto the larger screen. "He's such a child, never happy with the toys he already has" she said as she shook her head. "Whoa, definitely keep this one away from human trials" she said as she then turned to the side and began making notes and filling out the loads of paperwork of charts that needed to be completed for each and every combination of mutagen that was tested.  
"What's wrong with that one?" Nathan asked as he then brought over new samples and collected the ones that were now finished being used and then refilling the dishes that were still needed to be tested but the mutagen within them had already been used.  
"The combinations of the cells are creating a pattern that are similar to the one that, well, blew up that one guy" Sam said with a cringe. "Hey, why are you filling and refilling? Usually you're working with the computers or something."  
"Well, even though I'm the techy genius that I am" he said with a playfully cocky expression, "I'm also one of the few who knows how to organize and properly take care of these materials, so some days I'm needed to help aide in properly storing them away and treating them with care. Basically I'm being used for safety reasons. I was in your spot earlier, but I guess our generous leader wanted to give you a fun job before…yeah" he trailed off.  
"Ugh, you guys are all so emotional" Sam said as she finished logging the endless amounts of information about the mutagen and then began clearing her area for the next combination that was needed to be observed.  
"It's not our faults, we all know too well how bad Shredder can get" Amanda said as she looked up from her own station on the other side of the room. "I mean I literally got kicked in the stomach every time I couldn't perform, like I can't even remember which technique we were learning, but whatever it was I wasn't learning at a fast enough pace. So I was sent to where he trains and he literally kicked me every time I messed up the kick. I literally couldn't move for the next two days. Freaking ridiculous" Amanda said as she shook her head, her face telling of how scared she was as her mind sent her back to that horrible day.  
Nathan was the next to talk. "Oh I got one. When I was first brought here, there was a day when I wasn't able to fix his computer fast enough, like he was literally standing behind me as I was working which wasn't intimidating or anything-"  
"No of course not!" Sam exclaimed, joining in on his sarcasm.  
"Exactly. So then I needed to go get some tools to finish working on the computer and apparently I was supposed to magically know what the problem was before I even started to work and I should have brought my tools with me ahead of time, and because I failed at being prepared for what was to come, I had to go through an alertness exercise. Basically, he got 5 Purple Dragons guys to beat the crap out of me for a solid hour" he said as he shook his head.  
"You got revenge against them eventually though, right?" Ashley asked from a closet space where she was also doing some organizing of her own.  
"Ohhhh yeah! They failed whatever it was that they were supposed to do, and by that time I was ten times stronger, faster, ten times better at everything compared to that previous punishment, and let's just say I had some fun that night" he said with a wicked smile.  
"Normally I would condemn someone for saying something like that, but sadly that's what this place does to you. I've felt the same way when in similar situations. I used to hate people who found enjoyment in hurting others, yet I've become one of them" Tara said as she momentarily spaced out before Nathan put his hand on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality.  
Nathan then saw Kevin sitting the same way back at his station. He just sat there with his eyes glued to the desk in front of him as he fidgeted with his fingers.  
"Hey Kev, everything alright?" Nathan asked.  
Kevin looked up and gave him one of the most depressing expressions he had ever seen. Everyone then paused and turned to face Kevin as he just sat there in silence. He finally spoke, but he continued to look down. "It's my turn to switch…"  
None of them had ever heard him sound so broken and it took them all a moment to realize why switching to another room or station would make him so upset. As the wheels in everyone's head were turning, the main door opened and in walked Karai.  
Sam stopped what she was doing and looked over at Kevin. He finally looked over at her and he mouthed 'I'm sorry' as he stood up and walked over towards her station. As she walked past him she made sure to pat his shoulder before exiting the room. She knew what was coming, but she needed to act strong in front of everyone, and that's exactly what she did.  
"Hey Karai! We going somewhere?" Sam asked in a mockingly happy tone as she pranced over to the obviously annoyed woman.  
"Let's. GO." She said sternly, making it known that she had better things to do and did not want to be here.  
"Awww come on Karai, you have your entire life to be a jerk, why not take today off?" Sam said as she tried to playfully nudge the woman against her arm, but Karai made it known she was not taking this bullshit today. She grabbed the front of Sam's shirt, pulled her in close, and even slightly lifted her off the ground.  
"Fuck you kid" Karai snarled.  
Sam shrugged. "Okay, but I get to be on top" she said with an innocent smile.  
Karai slapped the woman across the face and then spun her around. She pushed Sam against the table in front of her and grabbed her wrists. She then handcuffed Sam's wrists and pulled her backwards.  
"Whoa Karai, I thought we'd wait for the bedroom, but in front of all these people? Huh, kinky" Sam teased.  
"You know, sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid rather than open it and remove all doubt" Karai said, shaking the girl as she spoke to her.  
"Sorry, I'm trying to see things from your perspective, but I just can't get my head that far up my ass" Sam said, smiling the entire time.  
Karai punched her in the gut this time. "You just don't know when to quit. This attitude of yours is going to get you killed."  
"Well, I'd rather die strong and confident than as a weak coward" Sam said with a wicked smile as she looked up at the woman.  
Karai shrugged. "At least you have one respectable quality. Say goodbye to your friends, while you can still see them that is. You'll be lucky if you survive the 'fun' time that you're going to have" she said as she then shoved the girl forward and then starting pulling her arm as she lead them to their destination.  
"Oh Chuck E. Cheese!"  
And that fast the door slammed behind them. Everyone in the room was experiencing a mix of emotions. Some were already tearing up, and others began to laugh at how courageous their friend was. Even though she was about to be beaten up, possibly killed even, she would never back down and she would always come back with the last word. They all went back to work, but the room was dead silent. Deep down, they were all praying and hoping that they would one day see their friend again.

 ***5 minutes later in Shredder's main office***

At this point Karai was literally dragging Sam into the room. Sam had claimed that she had a muscle cramp and that she couldn't walk anymore, so Karai was literally dragging her by her feet into and across the long office area. She dropped the girl's legs and then bowed to her master.  
Shredder had a feeling that the girl would mess around like this. She wasn't one to give in easily and he knew she wouldn't want to give her friends a reason to worry, even though they all knew what was coming. He decided to let her put on her tough act for now since he knew he would break her out of it soon enough.  
"Thank you Karai, you may get back to work now" Shredder said. There was no emotion evident in his voice or his expression, yet the smile Karai had on her face would say otherwise.  
"Thank you master" she said with a bow, and as she turned to exit the room, she sent Sam one last evil smirk, and then she was on her way.  
Sam rolled her eyes. She didn't find the soldier threatening at all but more so annoying than anything. _"Tch, you act all tough, but with a little more training, I could totally kick your ass"_ Sam thought to herself. Her thoughts were in her head, but she hadn't realized that she was smiling as she thought this. Shredder on the other hand picked up on this instantly, and now he was frowning with anger.  
"Something funny Samantha?" he asked in a low tone.  
The girl sighed and turned towards the man standing above her. "No sir." Now was the time to start acting serious, or else things would get even worse.  
Shredder picked up on this change in her attitude, and for the first time he formed a small devilish smirk on his face. "So, Sam, I hear you were very clumsy the other night and let yourself get caught."  
Sam stared at him, making sure not to be nasty, but still standing her ground and not showing any weakness. "I wasn't clumsy, I was being protective. Unlike you I actually care about the people here, or at least I care about certain ones, and I wanted to protect them from our unexpected guests."  
"Oh, you had guests? Do you know who they were?" he asked, continuing to display his devilish smile.  
"The turtles…" she mumbled.  
"Speak louder" he snarled.  
"The TURTLES."  
"So, I guess you weren't able to find a place where you could hide from them?"  
"Well that's not new news, your guys get caught by them all the time" she said blandly.  
Shredder was fuming now. "Are you diminishing my men?"  
"No, I'm just saying that they're good at tracking people. I mean they are animal mutants, aren't you training your mutant army to learn the same skills?"  
Shredder knew this was true, so he let this one go. As much as he honored his clan, sadly they were always getting caught by the turtles and usually it was the turtles who walked away with way less injuries.  
"Alright, so how did you get caught?"  
"I was distracted when-"  
"Oh Samantha," Shredder said as he shook his head, "You WERE in a leader's position, what does that mean?"  
"…forget about everyone else and make sure to escape and bring all important information straight to you."  
"So why did you allow yourself to get distracted?"  
"I didn't want the new trainees to get hurt by the turtles. I saw one take a serious blow, and that's when I was de-masked."  
"So, you broke two rules. Not only did you get caught, but you revealed your identity, which can also endanger the rest of the clan."  
"Yes sir. If it means anything, I allowed all other soldiers to escape though."  
"Why do I care?"  
"Because that means I was the only one in communication with the turtles that night, and I swear on my life that nothing about your operations here were mentioned. Even if I had wanted to do something as stupid as reveal any of your plans, I was instantly silenced and even abused by them." She knew that last part was extremely exaggerated, but at this point she needed to do whatever it took to possibly save her ass at least some.  
Shredder nodded, accepting this little bit.  
"What happened when you were captured? Where were you taken?" he asked.  
"They took me to their home."  
He raised his eyebrows, wondering if she was finally going to give up his enemy's location.  
"They took you their home?"  
"Yes."  
"Where was the location of their new home?"  
 _"Whelp, time to play dumb"_ Sam thought to herself as she formed a confused look upon her face. "Their new home, sir?"  
"Yes, their NEW home. Where was it?"  
"It was the same location as last time sir."  
Shredder was balling up his fists now and it was obvious he was growing even more furious. "It couldn't be the same location as last time, we've checked millions of times now and they're NEVER THERE."  
"I'm sorry sir, but that's the only place they've ever taken me. They might have cleared out already after they found out I was part of your clan, and for that I apologize. But that's the only place-"  
"ENOUGH!" the man shouted as he stood up and then started walking towards the girl kneeling on the ground in front of him. He brought his hand back up each time right before he began to speak to her.  
"You disobeyed an order as to how a leader of the Foot clan should act, *slap* in doing so you allowed yourself to get caught, *slap* and then you let them see your face *slap*. If anyone else had allowed all of this to happen then I would kill them on the spot, so I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me the truth as to where the turtles are hiding before I have to get really violent."  
At this point he was now holding the girl by the front of her shirt and they were face to face. Regardless, Sam would never give up on her friends. It didn't matter to her if they all hated her or not, she would rather die than give up their location and allow them to get captured by Shredder.  
She gritted her teeth together as she spoke, deciding that if these were her last words, then she would stay strong and die with honor. "And I'm going to tell you one last time that the only place they've ever taken me to is the location that you attacked last year. That's the only home they've ever introduced me to, so get over it and move on."  
Shredder then twisted his body as he flipped the girl over his shoulder and onto her back, which hurt even more since her arms were still handcuffed behind her back.  
"Am I a joke to you?!" Shredder said as he kicked the girl in a way that had her standing back up on her feet.  
"Of course not, but even the greatest of leaders can be duped. If they have another home, they never introduced me to it. Heh, they never did truly trust me. Sorry Shredder, but I got nothing for you. It's up to you whether you kill someone who could become one of your greatest soldiers."  
"Heh, you?" he asked as he kicked her in the stomach. "You think you can become a true Foot soldier?"  
 _"Sure, whatever I have to say so that I don't die."_  
"I can't offer you information now, but I could become a great soldier with the proper training. Check my records, within the few days I've been here I've already beaten out everyone else in my groups."  
"I know that already" he said as he swiped his leg by her knees, making her crash down onto the floor. This time Sam hit her head really hard on the floor, but she refused to groan out in pain, and instead fought her hardest to sit back up and face the man.  
"That's why you were given a leader's band so early on" the man continued as he walked over and grabbed a sword from the wall. "You know, you won the record for three things: being the youngest person to earn a leader's band, the first person to earn a band within less than a week of joining the clan, and also for losing the band quicker than anyone else." He then held the sword out so that it was resting very close to her face, but there was a small enough space between the weapon and the girl that the two were not yet touching. "I should just kill you now, you and your brother. Give me reasons why I shouldn't."  
Sam spoke with a sly grin. "1. Killing us would bring us joy since we would be reunited with our assassinated family. 2. With the proper training, I can get revenge against the turtles for you. They're soft, and they're weak. They're not stupid, but all four of them are very emotional. After some time, they might allow me to be friends with them again, and that's when I'll convince them to reveal ALL their secrets to me, and once I get your needed information, you can attack and capture them once again and do whatever you would like to them. But I need time sir, a good amount of time, both to improve my skills and also to gain back their trust."  
Shredder thought about what the girl said. He wasn't sure if he could trust this girl just yet, but once she would have been with the clan for a longer period of time, maybe she would be brainwashed to truly despise the turtles and to truly want to work for him. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened, and she wouldn't be the last to fall victim to these mental changes as well. He brought his sword up and brought it back down swiftly against Sam's cheek as a long strip of red began to slowly bleed out. He was a bit shocked that the girl had never blinked or even flinched as he cut her.  
"Hmph, I must admit that your confidence and mental strength is admirable. For that, I'll take you up on this offer Samantha. I'll let you continue on with your trainings so that one day you can attack and capture the turtles yourself. You can kill the rat, but I'll want the turtles alive. Get close to Lotus, she's an assassin I had sent over from Japan and she's one of my best soldiers from the Tokyo branch."  
Sam nodded. "Thank you sir, I won't let you down" she said with a bow, but in her head she knew that the revolution within the Foot would have occurred way before a time for her to attack the turtles would ever come.  
"For now though," Shredder continued, "I'm going to have you start your very first class: pain toleration" he said, smiling like he was the devil himself.  
He then called out to some soldiers nearby and within seconds they were rolling in karts that had all types of weapons on them. One of the soldiers, with permission from their master of course, went over and unlocked Sam's handcuffs as Shredder walked over towards an ash tray and started heating up one end of a metal whip. He then turned around and walked over to Sam, nodding to the soldiers in the room. The soldiers nodded and then walked over and stripped Sam of the majority of her clothes so that she was now wearing nothing but a solid black sports bra and a small pair of black spandex shorts.  
Shredder cracked the whip so that it slammed against the floor right next to where Sam's hand was, and again he was shocked at how she didn't flinch and how well she was keeping herself calm and composed.  
"Samantha, it's about noon now, and your schedule is free for the rest of the day, correct?"  
"Yes" Sam mumbled.  
"In that case, we have until 10 tonight to learn as many lessons as we can. Let's start with lesson one: how to handle intense burns" he stated aloud as he then cracked the whip over and over and over again, landing somewhere new on Sam's body each time he snapped the whip.

 ***9:00p.m. in Sam's room*  
Theme:  
Red-Hymn for the Missing**

Mikey carefully opened the window that lead into Sam's room since there was no one there to set the alarm. In a way he had wished there would have been someone there and they would have had to acknowledge his presence when shutting the alarm down, but he was able to walk right into the room.

His brothers tried to stop him, but ever since Sam had left the way she had, every night Mikey would go up to Sam's apartment and spend the night there, hoping that his friend would return. His brother's decided that this was his way of coping with what had happened since Mikey had become much closer to Sam than the rest of them had, so they decided to let him be until he was fed up and broke this habit.

In reality, Mikey was planning on doing this every night until he got some answers. He still didn't know what Raph had said to Sam to make her act the way she did, and no matter what the rest of his family said, he knew that the person they had kidnapped nights before was NOT his best friend. Maybe it was a clone, or she had been brainwashed, or maybe she had been kidnapped and forced to join, it had to be something! Mikey knew that Sam couldn't have just walked in and signed up to join the Foot clan, and he just knew that there was no way she had always been a member before the two had met. Something must have happened between the night she left for her tournament and the night they captured her and brought her back to the lair. He knew that if she had been a part of the Foot, then he and his brothers would have been captured a long time ago. Shredder doesn't play around, and Michelangelo knew that as soon as Shredder gained any information about their whereabouts that he would have planned an attack the moment Sam had spilled any details about them, and she had learned A LOT about them.

"Sam, what happened to you?" Mikey sighed as he laid down on her bed.

He hated the way she had left and he so badly regretted not stopping her and giving her a chance to speak. He could tell that she had something she wanted to get off her chest, but even he had felt so upset and betrayed that he let his emotions get the best of him and he joined his brothers in kicking her out of their lives, and now he feared that he would really never see her ever again.

As he lie in the bed he brought his hands up to his eyes as he tried to cover up his silent tears. He couldn't keep himself from crying as he thought of the worst possibilities. For whatever reason he felt that Sam was in danger, and he cried as he thought of the cruel things that Shredder might be doing to her right at this very moment. And then he thought of the worst thing possible: what if something happened where Sam was killed? What if she looked at Shredder the wrong way and he decided to go bat shit crazy on her and it resulted in her death? Mikey realized that if something serious did happen to Sam, his last words to her were to 'just go' and this realization had him balling his eyes out as he lost control of his emotions.

Eventually after he had calmed himself down, he then began rapidly shaking his head.  
"No, I promised that I'd take care of her…and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to find you Sam, I promise" he said to himself. He didn't care if it took years to find his friend, as long as he was still breathing, he vowed to make sure that Sam came home safe and sound. He had promised on Amber's grave that he would keep Sam safe, and he wouldn't rest until he kept up on that promise.


	22. Chapter 22

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #22

 ***Sunday August 10** **th** **, ten days since Sam left, five days since the incident*  
*Theme  
Citizen-The Summer***

Raph was quickly and forcefully hitting the speed punching bag in his room. He had barely left his room since the incident unless it was for necessities like food. He was prepared to leave if one of his brothers called about another robbery or about any type of criminal activity that they could try to stop, but from what all the turtles knew, no serious crimes had been committed besides the robberies where Sam was involved. As soon as he even thought of her name and her face Raph instantly started growling and hitting the punching bag even quicker and harder. He was pissed at her for tricking him the way she had, and he was even more pissed at himself for falling for her tricks. Mikey had always been the soft-hearted member of the family who was vulnerable to tricks like these, yet he had allowed himself to fall victim to the girl's lies as well. How could he be so stupid? How could he let her take advantage of him like that?! And why couldn't he hit this bag with more power?!

Just then the small bag flew off the hinges and slammed into the wall. Now that he wasn't punching the heck out of something, Raph started to calm himself down. It wasn't until that moment that he had realized how loud his breathing was, that or how fast he had been breathing. He began to wonder how long he had sounded like this, but then just shrugged it off as he walked out of the room and across the living room to the circular opening near the dojo that had a bunch more workout equipment and supplies.

"You need another bag?" Came a voice from one of the tables at the eatery nearby.  
Raph looked over and saw their family friend April sitting down by herself.  
"Oh, hey" Raph said as he took yet another bag from the pack, and then shrugged his shoulder as he dropped that bag back into the packaging and then decided to take the pack of all ten to his room instead. "Yeah, these things must be getting lighter and lighter, they fly off the hinges and get messed up when they hit the wall."  
"That or you're getting stronger" April said, making a statement but making it obvious that she was questioning him and was curious as to why he was doing this in the way she said it.  
Raph just shrugged, acting like he had no idea what she was talking about. "So why are you out here all by yourself?"  
"Well, I came to check up on you guys after I heard what happened, but I can tell that no one really wants any company" she said as she stared down at the table. She wasn't used to the lair being so quiet, or quiet at all really, so she wasn't exactly sure what to do with herself.  
Raph grinned over at her and nodded his head for her to follow him, and with a small smile she did so.  
The two went back to Raph's room where they both continued to talk about various different things. They both talked about the members of their family, what they had been up to lately, typical small talk. This continued on until Raph eventually knocked his third punching bag off of the hinges and into the wall.  
"Okay, I know you're incredibly strong, but you NEVER destroy this huge number of punching bags in one day. What's with the immense amount of strength being used today compared to usual?" April asked sternly but with concern.  
"I don't know what you're talking about" Raph said as he started setting up another bag.  
"Raph…"  
He could tell by her tone that she was really getting worried, so he dropped the bag and turned to make sure his door was shut before he stood and faced her.  
"Look, you know I won't do anything, but please-"  
"You should know by now that I won't tell anyone anything, and if you don't know that then I'd feel extremely insulted. Just saying" April stated as she crossed her arms across her chest.  
Raph gave her a small smile before going back to his serious expression.  
"I don't know how to explain it. I just…I keep thinking back to that night. It's the same as when we first met her, I knew we never should have trusted her. I don't think I've ever felt so betrayed in my entire life. I know I'm the hot head, but when…but when…"  
Raph hadn't realized how worked up he was getting and how fast his temper was increasing, and this was just from thoughts of what had recently happened.  
"But when what happened?" April asked.  
Raph paced back and forth across the room as he spoke.  
"I kept hoping that it wasn't her, I kept telling myself it wasn't her, and when I pulled the mask of their leader, it was her! When we first met her, the second time she had ever stepped foot into our home, I got a bad vibe from her and knew that something was wrong about her. Ohhhh she did a good job at convincing all of us that she was this innocent girl who had been through tons of hardship from losing all of her family to the Foot, but all those bad vibes came back the moment I saw her face under the mask, literally and figuratively. I should have known better than to believe all her lies about her and her past and about her family."  
"Is that what you said to her that night, that her past was a lie?" April asked in a concerned tone.  
Raph paused as he realized what he had just accidentally confessed to doing, but he knew he would have to come clean about everything that had happened that night eventually, and now seemed to be the time.  
"Yeah, I called her out on her bluffs. She had gone on with the act long enough, so I told her that I wasn't taking her b.s. anymore. How could she say that she hated the Foot and feared them when she was wearing a leader's armband? That's proof that she had to have been a member for a long time in order to earn that" he stated as he shook his head the entire time.  
April sighed and hoped that Raph wouldn't hate her for what she was about to say.  
"Raph, I know you don't want to hear this, but everything Sam told you about her past was true."  
Raph stopped walking and stood still. He turned towards April and shot her an angry look. "What?"  
"There's a woman that I'm good friends with at my work and she's the mother of Jay's girlfriend, aka she'll eventually be part of Sam's family one day when Jay and his girlfriend get married. The woman's name is Irma, and she's told me about her future son in law's past and about his family. I didn't know that Sam was the girl in her stories until I met Sam the day you guys met her for the first time. But I've talked to Sam about it and confirmed that she was the girl that Irma talked about in the stories about Jay. So everything Sam has told you about the Foot killing off everyone except for her and Jay is accurate. Those weren't lies, it was all the truth."  
Raph clenched his fists as he heard this information. "Then why is she with them? It doesn't make any sense! And those weren't the only things she lied about, what about…" he trailed off as he looked down at the ground.  
"What's wrong Raph?" April asked.  
This was the part that Raph was truly embarrassed about.  
"She…she was different that night, the night we caught her and brought her back from the initiation. The others went to go talk about how to handle the situation, and after her and I started arguing…she literally kicked me into the wall. And her eyes, her eyes are brown right?" he asked as he looked back up at the woman in front of him.  
April nodded. She was shocked to see him transition from his pissed off attitude to a more nervous one.  
"Her eyes turned blue when she kicked me, and gusts of wind flew away from her. It was like she was possessed. Somehow she had this incredible strength, I mean she was stronger than me! But she didn't look any different. There's no way that she just magically became that strong within a few days, that doesn't just happen to people."  
"Raph, are you afraid of her?" April asked gently. She didn't want him to feel offended, but his tone had become much more timid compared to his usual rough voice.  
"I don't think so, but…I don't know. I'm more angry than anything, but, but I thought we knew so much about her, and then she shows up like that. Nothing makes sense anymore. And then when we fought, she was so strong that she could have killed me. Mikey literally saved my life that night. I wasn't even that scared when we fought Shredder. How did she become so strong? Was that something she kept from us? How much else has she kept from us? What if that wasn't even the full extent to whatever powers she has?"  
"Do you think there was anything that might have set off her powers?"  
"What do you mean?" Raph asked.  
"You said you two were arguing, right? Maybe she had a trigger, like you accusing her of lying." April then stood up and walked over to the turtle that towered over her, and she gave him a hug. He was a bit shocked, but he still hugged her back, and in the moment, it actually felt nice.  
She then pulled back and looked up at him.  
"You have to put yourself in her shoes Raph. I know that's the last thing you want to hear, but if someone had said you were lying about something serious about your family, don't you think you might go berserk as well?"  
Raph paused, not wanting to answer the question.  
"I feel the same way as you in wondering how much she was and still is hiding from you guys, but something just doesn't add up in the whole situation."  
"Hmph, you should be telling all this to Mikey. He's the one that's still infatuated with her."  
"That's because Mikey is the only one who hasn't given up hope yet."  
Raph was speechless at that point. April wasn't wrong though, Raph knew that Leo and Donnie were on his side in never wanting to see Sam again, at least he thought they still felt that way, but Mikey still had all this faith that he would find Sam again and that she would talk to him. Raph slowly turned away from April.  
"I her what you're saying, but things will never be the same now, not after what she's done. If she had something to tell us, then she should have told us. If all this is some crazy mixed up situation, then it shows how much she trusted us."  
April sighed and went to exit the room. "If you want her out of your life, then you have that right. You experienced a situation with her that no one else will ever understand. But think of it his way, whatever her reasons were for joining the Foot, would you have really supported her to begin with, or would you have treated her the same way you did that night?"  
Raph paused, not moving and not saying anything, not sure how to respond.  
"I'm going to go check on your other brothers. Please, just don't hurt yourself or do anything you'll regret."  
And with that April walked out of the room and shut the door behind her.  
Once the room was silent, Raph walked back over to his bed and laid down. He understood what April was saying, and if he had to be brutally honest, he did regret saying what he had to Sam that night. He knew he had pushed the boundaries too far, but she still could have killed him. That was the first thing that he couldn't get out of his head. The second was that she obviously didn't trust them, so he would no longer trust her. She made it clear where all their relationships stood and that was something he would never forget. There were still so many secrets she was hiding from them and this infuriated Raph more than anything. After all the time they had all spent together, for his brothers to basically call Sam their sister, for all of that to happen just to find out that she was still sneaking around behind their backs and lying to them. He hadn't realized how hard he was clenching his fists together until he was able to smell the blood that was coming from his palms.  
He sat up and walked to the entrance to the bathroom in the corner of his room and started washing his hands.  
 _"I don't care anymore what her situation is or was, the girl is bad news. The fact that she's getting me this worked up, she's bad for my health, and I know she has everyone else all messed up as well. I hope we never see her again."  
_ And these were Raph's final thoughts before he went back to his bed and fell asleep from exhaustion after the non-stop workouts he had had from punching the speed bags over and over and over again.

 ***In the lab***

Donnie kept furiously pacing back and forth in his laboratory. Usually just working on one of his multiple projects would calm him down and soon after things would be normal for him again and he could think clearly about whatever it was that had upset him in the first place, but this was a rare case. Nothing had ever upset him so much that even nerding out couldn't help him think straight. His stress reliever was useless this time, and that began to make him even more upset. He was upset at how betrayed he felt but he was even more heated about the fact that he had been defeated. He knew that he and his brothers had won in the moment by stopping Sam from hurting Raph anymore than she already had, but he felt that they all were beaten in the game of reality. In Donnie's eyes the worst part was that he wasn't even sure what was and wasn't true, so he wasn't sure how much he had been crushed. Did she beat them a little to the point that it was like she had pushed their faces into the dirt, or were they buried underground from how much Sam had crushed them?

He slammed his hand down on the desk. He couldn't believe that he who was the genius of the group had let someone toy with him as much as Sam had. He wanted to believe that she was telling the truth, but god she made things so difficult. Of course they would have helped her if she said that she had any reason where she needed to join the Foot…right? He thought about it and wondered how he and his brothers would have reacted if she had told them before that night, but now it didn't matter since she went against any possibility that would have come from that decision, and obviously she didn't want their help anyway or else she would have given them a chance and would have gone straight to them. That's what family does, they rely on each other and help support each other no matter what, didn't she know that?

Donnie slammed his fist down on the desk once again. _"Obviously she doesn't know that because she's not our family! Family doesn't betray each other the way she did! God what am I thinking?!"_ Donatello thought as he grabbed the sides of his head with his hands and continued to furiously walk bath and forth across the room. He kept wondering where he went wrong. Was hanging out with her at places like the museum going too far and letting her get to close to him? Or maybe helping her out during training sessions was letting her get to close? No, what if letting her into his lab, or even letting her visit the lair was where the lies and secrets began? Was any of what she had ever told them the truth? Was everything fake, or was it true? But then that didn't explain why she had a leader's armband which signified she had been a part of the Foot clan for a decent amount of time. None of it made sense. The only thing that made sense was that she had played them with her sob stories and had taken advantage of the friendship they had all shared and that she was planning something ten times worse than what had happened the other night, and that made Donnie furious.

He had become so livid that he stormed over to where his computer was and had pulled open a draw and yanked out a flash drive. It was going to be a surprise for Sam and Donnie thought that it would mean a lot to her, but now he wasn't so sure. Nights before Sam had disappeared, Donnie had asked her if he could borrow the flash drive with all the pictures she had shown the boys on the night of her siblings anniversary, and before he had gotten to work, he had asked Sam if she would be interested in him combining pictures of the two families so that even though they had never met, it would look like the two had grown up together. He reassured his friend that both the real and the edited pictures would be saved to the flash drive, and Donnie couldn't recall a time where he had seen Sam any happier than after he had explained to her all the details of the project.

After he had picked up the drive, he clutched it in his hand and launched his arm backwards. He was ready to throw it and he wanted to so bad. This would both be him getting revenge on the girl for all that she had done to endanger his family, but it would also be a way for him to help wipe her clean from his memories. If there weren't any more pictures for him to remember her by, then eventually she would be wiped from his memories as well. He stood there with his arm launched back…and he stood there…and continued to stand there until finally he gave up and tossed the drive back onto the table. He sighed as he plopped down in his swivel chair and put his hands behind his head that he now let carefully rest on the table.

"Hey" came a gentle voice from the doorway.  
Donnie moved his arms so that they were in his lap, but his head was still on the table as he turned it to face the person in the doorway. He saw April standing there with a concerned expression on her face.  
"Sorry if I'm barging in. The door was closed and I knocked a few times, but you never answered, so I slowly opened the door and walked in" she said softly.  
"Don't worry its fine" he said as he sat up and nodded his head for her to come in.  
April closed the door and walked over to the bed that Donnie had in the corner of his lab.  
"So, you finally found a case you can't crack?" April asked, trying to carefully cheer her friend up from his mental struggles, and she succeeded slightly.  
"Heh, yeah. Something like that."  
"Well, at least you're not breaking things like the second oldest."  
"He broke another bag? Man, those things aren't easy to get ahold of" Donnie said as he rubbed the side of his head.  
"It's gotten so bad that he took an entire pack of the bags to his room, and within the first 45 minutes of us talking he broke another 3" April said.  
"Ugh, well from now on he can go find new ones" Donnie groaned.  
"Everyone has their ways of coping, and his way is by physically letting out steam, and apparently he can only do so by breaking things" the woman said with a shrug.  
"At least his coping method is working" Donnie stated.  
April gave him a puzzled look. "You always build or fix something whenever you're stressed. Isn't that what you were doing with that flash drive? I assumed you were a bit distracted and had messed up somewhere and that's why you were going to throw it against the wall, because it wasn't perfect enough to meet your standards."  
Donnie looked down at his hands as he answered. "It had pictures of Sam on it. I was working on a project for her. But it's not needed anymore." He looked off to the side as he finished speaking his thoughts.  
April wasn't sure whether she should continue to question him or not, but she decided to give it a shot and see if it would help her friend out in anyway.  
"So did you want to destroy the flash drive to erase Sam from your life, or to get back at her?"  
"For both of those reasons honestly. I'm still cross about what she did to Raph, I mean jeez she literally could have killed him if Mikey hadn't intervened. I don't know how she got that strong. How long has she been hiding that from us? Was having us train her just for show and really she could have beaten all of us to a pulp at any time? What's even real anymore?" Donnie said, not realizing he was clenching his fists together while talking.  
"And that's why you want to erase her, right? Because you guys all feel so betrayed?" April asked softly.  
"Not just betrayed, or at least I feel more than just that. I feel like a complete idiot for letting her into my life. I'm frustrated from the fact that I let someone get close to me that I fell into their trap. I'm supposed to be the genius of the family and know the outcome of anything that we gamble with, and I was wrong. Usually I can tell what's really happening behind the scenes and for the first time I couldn't see through the cracks. She took me to the Natural History Museum, did I ever tell you that?"  
April shook her head.  
"Well she did. I let her talk me into it and we went to a few other places that were similar to that nature. She played me and I NEVER let people play me like that because I can tell what they're up to. She did what she needed to get past me and she succeeded. I can't believe it, and because I fell into her trap I gave her the chance to harm my family."  
Donnie shook his head, making it known how ashamed he was in himself.  
April hated seeing the guys this way. She hated seeing Raph so lost in his fear and worry about the way Sam had treated them, and she hated seeing Donnie seem so broken and defeated from not being able to read Sam's thoughts and actions beforehand.  
"If it means anything, I can confirm some of what you're worrying about" April stated.  
Donnie looked her straight in the eye. "How?"  
"There's a woman that I'm good friends with at my work and she's the mother of Jay's girlfriend, aka she'll eventually be part of Sam's family one day when Jay and his girlfriend get married. The woman's name is Irma, and she's told me about her future son in law's past and about his family. I didn't know that Sam was the girl in her stories until I met Sam the day you guys met her for the first time. But I've talked to Sam about it and confirmed that she was the girl that Irma talked about in the stories about Jay. So everything Sam has told you about the Foot killing off everyone except for her and Jay is accurate. Those weren't lies, it was all the truth."  
Donnie's jaw dropped a bit after hearing what April had to say. "But, if all that she said about her siblings was true, then why would she be with the Foot? It just doesn't make sense, nothing makes sense" he said as he grabbed the sides of his head in frustration again.  
"Sadly I don't have any answers to that part. I don't know anything about her powers either. Something seems off about this whole situation, but I get the feeling that you don't want to go into depth about all the possibilities just yet" April said with a small smile.  
Donnie returned the expression. "Not just yet, the wounds are still too fresh. Maybe when I'm able to work on some type of project again then I'll talk more about it. But I really don't want to keep talking about her, it just makes me angrier. Heh, I sound like Raph, don't I?" he said with a light chuckle, proving that talking to the woman had somewhat helped him feel better for the time being.  
"At least you're willing to talk about it one day and figure out what's going on. Apparently Raph is set on keeping her out of his and the rest of your lives" she said with in a sorrowful tone.  
"Well, that's how he wanted things to be the first time around, yet he opened up to her to. I have a feeling we're all eventually going to look into what happened, but only when the time is right. I think we'll still need a long time to get over the damage that's already been done."  
April walked over and put her hand on her friends shoulder. "I understand, and I can't imagine how you guys are feeling right now."  
Donnie looked up and smiled at her. "Thanks April."  
"It's what family's for. Oh, and if you ever get your nerd funk back, let me know. My lab top has been acting weird and I could use some assistance" she said as she clasped her hands together in front of her lips to thank him ahead of time.  
For the first time in days Donnie displayed a teeth filled smile as he replied. "Yeah, I'll let you know."  
With that, April exited the room and made sure to shut the door behind her.

Donnie looked back down and then picked up the flash drive. He still felt the urge to just throw it in the trash and get rid of it, but at the same time he agreed with April in feeling like something just wasn't right about this whole situation. He thought over every possible scenario and wondered which of the hundreds he came up with could have possibly been the correct one. He let out a long sigh as he stood up and walked the drive back to its spot in the door. As upset as he was about everything that happened, he still had a small bit of hope that maybe everything was just a huge misunderstanding. The percent chance that this was a misunderstanding was very low, but it wasn't at 0% yet, so he decided to hang on to the drive until proof and evidence was able to sway his final decision.

 ***Living room of the lair***

Leo was sitting in front of the television, but he was doing so just for the white noise. If someone had walked in and asked what he had been watching then he would have had no idea what to tell them. This had become a normal routine for him. He would just sit somewhere and stare off into space and listen to nothing but his thoughts until someone or something had awakened him from his daydreams.

He just couldn't escape from what he had seen 5 days earlier, and he knew that all his brothers had similar feelings about the events that had taken place that night as well. He could sense that Raph felt anger but also fear from what he had experienced, Donnie felt frustrated and defeated in not being able to sense these events coming ahead of time, Mikey felt regret and sorrow for not being able to make the situation better, and Leo himself felt more confused than anything, especially after what he had just learned. He wasn't sure where this conversation took place, but while he was in his room he had received a call from April and heard her talking to Raph. That's when he heard her talk about the woman named Irma from her work and what she had to say about Sam's past. And then there was Raph's confession about what he had said to Sam, and Leo still wasn't sure what to make of that, but he would deal with that at a better and more appropriate time. He assumed that April had butt dialed them since she never acknowledged Leo in the call, and he knew that Mikey must have been a part of the butt dial as well since the youngest brother had stormed away as Leo went to walk over to the couch where Mikey had been sitting.

This information definitely brought a huge amount of questions into play. If what Sam had said about her past was true, then why was she with the Foot? This was the biggest question of all and of course all of the brothers wanted to know the answer, but right now only one of them was ready to search for that answer, and that one was about to walk by right now.

Leo wouldn't have noticed him if it wasn't for how loud his footsteps were, but because of the volume coming from how he walked Leo had sensed Mikey walk past the screen in front of him.  
Leo stood up. "Where are you going?" he asked with strict concern as he picked up on his brother's angered expression.  
"Same place as usual" Mikey replied in a nasty tone.  
Leo disliked the way his brother spoke, but he made sure to keep himself calm since he knew his brother only replied this way because of how much pain he was in.  
"Mikey stop."  
"Why?" Mikey asked as he deadpanned and stared his brother right in the eye as he stood by the exit way from the lair. "My best friend could be in danger and if she returns home then maybe I can talk her out of returning to the Foot clan."  
"We don't know her reasoning for joining Mikey and we don't know if-"  
"If what? If she's plotting to attack us? I'm not that stupid Leo. I know that if she was truly trying to harm us then the Foot would have found us already. We'd be bruised and bloody from some type of attack if they knew our location. Hell, Sachs talked to April for a few minutes and within those couple hours later our home was destroyed, so why would he now be kind enough to give us 5 days to prepare for him? Why would he make us wait?"  
Leo paused. He was shocked at how much his baby brother, the goofball of the family, had thought about this. While the rest of the brothers were to hurt to think further into what had happened, Mikey was already thinking about what was going on and was looking for answers to what had already happened.  
"Even so, we still don't understand everything."  
"What else is there to not understand and question?"  
"How about the fact that she had monstrous strength that almost killed your brother?" Leo asked, unintentionally shoving the nasty tone back at his brother. However, this did get Mikey to settle down some as he realized that Leo was right.  
"Still," the youngest stated softly yet sternly, "something isn't right. I'm outraged from the fact that Raph could allow himself to say something so cruel to Sam, but Raph had treated her like shit when they first met as well and she never responded by treating him like that, she would never mean to kill…" he paused as he tried to fight himself from getting emotional, "she would never purposefully do that."  
"Mikey," Leo said in a softened tone, "there's a chance that everything we knew about Sam is wrong. We don't know what was and what wasn't a lie."  
"I know you got that call to Leo, and you know that what she said about her family is the truth."  
"That's one thing out of many things Mikey. We don't know about where her powers came from and if us training her was just and act or not, we don't know if she truly was alone or if she had others watching and spying on us, we don't if her interests are real or if she pretended to like things we did just to get close to us or not, and we still don't know her official reasons for joining the Foot."  
"And that's why I'm going to question her once I see her again. I'll be the one to get answers while the rest of you just hang out here" Mikey said as he began to turn and walk away.  
"You think we don't want answers? Do you honestly think we're okay with what happened and are just moving on like nothing happened?" Now Leo's blood was beginning to boil a bit.  
"For people that want answers, none of you are doing anything but lying around" Mikey grumbled.  
"Maybe the wounds are still too fresh and deep for some people to treat them yet" came a softer voice on the other side of the room.  
The two turned to see April exiting their brother's lab space and walk over towards where they were standing. "At least, that's how Donnie said he felt about the situation."  
Leo was a bit shocked to see April leaving from Donnie's lab since he thought she was still with Raph. Knowing her, she probably saw him spacing out and decided to talk to Donnie first. As Leo realized how bad his thoughts were controlling his sensory skills, he made sure to continue on with the conversation and try to calm his brother down as best as he could.  
"See?" Leo said, "Donnie is curious as to how things got this way as well, but it's too soon to look into it Mikey."  
Mikey bit his lip to prevent himself from losing control and saying something he would regret. "Fine. You guys take your good old time and figure out things your way when you're ready, but I'm still leaving."  
"And what will you do if you find out that you're the one that's been wrong this entire time? That everything we thought and hoped was true was nothing but a lie?"  
Mikey paused briefly before answering. "I'll deal with that when the time comes. Until then, I'm going to wait for my best friend to come back so I can help her and get the answers that I've been waiting five days for."  
And with that, Mikey continued on his way up to the surface by his friend's apartment building.

April sat on the couch. "I guess that's his way of coping?"  
Leo closed his eyes as he sat down and leaned back into the couch. "Yup. He goes up to her room and waits for her until the sun comes up, hoping she'll return for something and that he can talk to her then."  
"I guess you guys don't like that?" April asked as she put a pillow behind her back and leaned back against the arm of the couch as she also kicked her feet up onto Leo's lap.  
"Yes and no. We didn't mind him doing it for a couple of days to cope with losing his best friend, but we didn't expect him to go there every night. I would have been really upset if he had ignored our calls if we needed him to help us catch criminals, but that's the strange thing. Besides for that one robbery, there hasn't been any real criminal activity for the past ten days."  
April titled her head in confusion. "Do you think the Foot are planning something?"  
"I don't know, and sadly none of us have really been looking ahead for signs of any deadly plans like when Sachs and Shredder tried to take down New York last year. Knowing Mikey is away every night makes me worry even more. What if she really is plotting something and he's the bait? Like, say she attacks him when he's in the room with her? Or she talks and convinces him to follow her to headquarters and they capture him there? They know we'll come after them to save Mikey and that could easily lead to all of us getting caught and killed. Maybe that's why nothing has been happening. What if they're waiting for us to come to them rather than them coming to us?"  
"Alright calm down" April said. "I'm worried about him to, but he just proved to you that he's smarter in these type of situations than any of us realized. He knows better than to go to headquarters without you guys."  
"He's done it before. WITH SAM. Crap, what if that day she was trying to capture him then?"  
"Nooooo, because from what I was told of that day, the only reason he went was because they were sneaking around and listening in on Shredder's plans, and then when things went sour Sam helped you guys to escape."  
Leo paused as April's words washed over him. "You're right, that's all true. Ugh then what the hell is she doing?" he asked as he rubbed his hands down his face in exhaustion.  
"It looks like you're closer to where Mikey's mind is than you are to the others" April said with a small smile.  
Leo sighed. "I'm still just as pissed as Raph and Donnie are, but I'd be a liar if I said I didn't want to hunt her down and figure out what the heck is going on. I so badly want to believe that this is all a huge misunderstanding, but at the same time I'm so confused about what we do and don't know that I'm worried about how everything could go wrong, and how quick it could go wrong. I'm stuck in the middle. I want answers as badly as Mikey does, but I still feel the same amount of fear and pain as Raph and Donnie do to want to wait before trying to confront her."

April put a hand on Leo's shoulder.  
"I definitely think that everyone should do their part in trying to figure out what happened to Sam and learning the real truth, but there's nothing wrong in waiting a bit longer to do so, especially after what she did to Raph. All of you are filled with fear for your own reasons: you fear what could result from all of this, Raph is afraid of the power that almost killed him, Donnie is frightened by the fact that someone may have outsmarted him when it comes to mind games and manipulating people, and Mikey is terrified of what could be happening to his best friend at this very moment. Each of you is experiencing thoughts and feelings that in some ways are similar to the others, yet are also different based on the ways that you each knew and interacted with Sam, including that final time you all spoke with her. Because of this, it's understandable that you're not all ready to face her just yet, and some space between you all might be best so that you can all act rationally when you do finally see her again. Mikey wanting to confront her so soon just defines how he knew Sam and what type of emotions he's feeling right this moment."  
Leo gave his friend a small smile. "You should really write a book one day, you're good at explaining things."  
"Well that's what four years of journalism does to a person" she joked.  
"Thanks April. This really helps."  
"That's what I'm here for. I help with your people problems that you guys are newbs at understanding" she said as she stood up. "Let me know when you guys are ready to start hunting down Sam and I'll let you know what I've found by then."  
Leo squinted his eyes at her. "What are you going to do?" he asked with concern.  
"I'm going to talk to Irma some more and find out what else she knows about Sam's situation."  
"But you're going to do that tomorrow," Leo said as he stood up next to her, "because it's late and you should be heading home now."  
April rolled her eyes. "You know I'm older than you right? As in I can tell you to stay home and you'd have to listen to your elder."  
"Well when you become a giant mutant who can defend them self from being picked up and carried around by others than I'll leave you alone" he said with a smile.  
April put her hands up in defense. "Alright, alright no one needs to be picked up. I can walk, and I'm walking now."  
"I'll walk with you" Leo said.

After Leo had made sure that April arrived home safely, he began to think about what she had said about them all looking for Sam on their own time. He knew that his confusion was leading to curiosity, and he knew that this curiosity was beginning to override his other thoughts and emotions about the whole situation. He decided that he wasn't emotionally ready to search for Sam tonight, but even when he was ready, he thought it would be best to keep this to himself for a little while until all his brothers were ready to look for Sam. Mikey would rush into things too quickly, and rushing the others would just lead to more arguing and chaos. So, after spending some time that night meditating on it, maybe he'd be ready to look for her tomorrow night, alone.


	23. Chapter 23

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #23

 ***Monday August 17** **th** **. Late at night in Sam's bedroom*  
Themes:  
Big Bang-If You**

Sam knew that the alarms should be off in her room since she hadn't been home in weeks to turn them back on, so sneaking into her room was no big deal. What she wasn't expecting was to see a sleeping Michelangelo in her bed as she carefully maneuvered her body through the open window and into the room. Sam wanted to make sure that he was sound asleep before she started moving around her room, so she waited by her window so that she could make a quick escape if it were needed. After a few minutes of little to no sound and no movement, Sam decided she could start gathering what she needed. There were a few tools and devices that she wanted to take with her back to headquarters but also some family related items. She wasn't sure how long she would be staying at the Foot's headquarters, or if she would ever escape from there and get to go back to normal life, so she decided that some smaller familial objects would stay with her at headquarters. Family wise she mainly just wanted Chuck's weapons and the flash-drive with all the pictures on it…and that's when she remembered that both of those things were still back at the lair.

Sam put her hands on the side of her head in frustration. How could she forget about that?! She quickly thought of how she could steal those objects back and within seconds came up with a plan. She thought over this plan a couple more times and decided that it should work out alright as long as she was careful. A small but sorrowful smile appeared on her face as she thought to herself. _"Heh, even after all of you kick me out of your home I still have a reason to sneak back down there. Sorry guys, but I need that drive and those sais, especially if my last hours on earth end up at headquarters."_ Sam was about to walk back towards the window and exit the room…but she couldn't just walk away from Mikey. She looked back over at him and slowly and quietly moved a bit closer to the bed. After all the pranks the two had played on each other, Sam could tell when Mikey was truly asleep, when he was half asleep, or when he was totally faking and wasn't sleeping at all. Because of this she was able to recognize the signs that he was totally out and sound asleep. The girl stood about a foot away from the turtle that way lying on her bed, and after a minute or so she inched her way closer to the point that she was basically standing next to the bed and looking down at him. A small apologetic smile appeared on Sam's face. She knew that there was a chance she would die at headquarters before getting a chance to talk to Mikey and tell him the entire truth and that fact crushed her inside, but everyone had cast her out and at this point it was too dangerous to turn back. Shredder had ten times the number of Foot soldiers hiding at their specific headquarters location and he had all types of mutagens and other chemicals and weapons hiding there. Basically, there were more dangers and threats at headquarters than ever before and Sam didn't want her friends to get hurt, so she decided that she would continue to keep her secrets from the turtles, even if she had to take them with her to an early grave. Still, it hurt her so much to see her best friend (if she could still call him that) just lying there with such a pained expression on his face. She noticed that he wasn't wearing shoes and as she turned her head she saw that they were lying in their normal spot along the wall. Without making a sound, Sam covered her mouth to prevent laughing sobs from slipping out. _"You kick me out of your home and out of your life and yet you still make sure not to put your shoes on my bed"_ the girl thought to herself. It was difficult for her to see him this way after their emotional and painful last interaction together. She almost stole his older brother from him after being exposed to hiding important information from them and then she was the reason that each of them had released a dark side of them that she had never seen before, including Michelangelo who in those moments looked at her and talked to her in ways she had never experienced before, and yet here he was lying in her bed waiting for her to return home. And it wasn't just that he was waiting for her but he even remembered such simple things like how much she hated having shoes on her bed. Sam had to force herself to walk away and leave through the window. After she had carefully shut the window she immediately made her way to the rooftops before heading back down towards the sewers.

She needed to take a few minutes to get her soft yet still hysterical laughter out as she covered her eyes with her hands. How could he be in her bed just lying there? Why did he have to be here in her bed? Why couldn't he be out looking for her somewhere else? Why was he waiting for her and looking for her in general? Sam had done so much damage to the turtles, so why was he trying to find her? She shook her head as she thought of how much she didn't deserve to have him as a best friend. Even now after all that had happened he was still looking out for her and trying to protect her…but she couldn't allow that to happen.  
 _"You've always had my back, and even though you pushed me away that night you're STILL trying to protect me. I'll never stop worrying about you either, but I can't let you protect me anymore. I'll never stop loving you and your brothers as my family and that's why I can't let you know about what's happening. I hoped it would be quicker but sadly things are a million times worse with the Foot than I could have ever imagined and I'd rather die than be the reason that you guys get wrapped up in all that's happening. I'm so sorry, but I may never get to talk to you again, and I'm sorry if you never get to truly know why I disappeared…but sadly there are some really messed up things that happen in this world, trust me I know, and this is a path I decided to follow both to protect my new family and to avenge my first. I love all of you guys regardless of how any of you feel about me, so I'm going to keep pushing you all away from me. You need to be safe, I need you to be safe, so this is the final time I'll ever be close to any of you."_

Sam took a deep breath and tried to return to a calm and relaxed state as she reminded herself of why she chose the path she did and why she made the final decisions that she had. Once she was back to normal she went back over the plan in her head one more time. She knew that there was a main breaker box that the guys used as a power source since it was used to power some of the old subway lines and was still in good condition now. This box was located closer to the entry way near the living room. She would shut this down so that the entire lair would suddenly go dark and then she would sneak in depending on which exit she sensed a presence (which she knew would be Donnie) leave to either fix that box or to go use one of their tons of back-up generator boxes. She slipped on a Foot soldiers mask the covered every part of her head except for where her eyes were and she made sure her bag was secured nice and tight so that it wasn't lose and would make noise while she ran.

She then crawled down the ladder on the side of the apartment building and walked over towards the manhole cover. She carefully and cautiously made her way into the sewers, keeping her devices used to sense and deactivate small cameras nearby as she came closer and closer to her final destination.

 ***Minutes later in the lair*  
Theme:  
Kodaline-Nothing More**

Now that it had been 17 days since Sam disappeared and 12 days since the incident, the older three brothers were slowly starting to get back into their regular routines that they each followed, that and after spending days staring at the same walls of their rooms they finally wanted to leave their rooms and do something else that would get their minds off of all the chaos that had gone down in the dojo and that was still replaying over and over in their minds from that insane night.

Mikey was the only one who wasn't able to get back to how things used to be which he made evident since he was spending the night at Sam's place yet again. The rest of the brothers however were starting to pick up their old habits. Leo was out patrolling on his own for the time being, Raph was in the dojo getting back to his daily workout routines, and Donnie was sitting at the kitchen table as he finished a slice of pizza and played some games on a 3DS that he had found trashed and broken in a dumpster that now looked brand new thanks to his technical skills. The lair was still pretty quiet, but it was nowhere near as silent as it had been days previous. At least now there was a little bit of noise from the various activities and it wasn't so quiet that you could hear a pin drop from the other side of the room. As he brothers continued on peacefully with their activities, all the lights suddenly went off.

"DONNIE!" Raph called from the dojo.  
"It wasn't me I promise!" he called back. "It must be a major city power outage for all the lights to go off like this, I'll fix it don't worry!"

Donnie stood up and pulled out a flashlight from one of the many pouches that were hooked onto his shorts along his waist. He walked down the small walkway and over the waterway down below and then exited the lair through the doorway that was by Leo's room past the kitchen. He made a few different turns until he finally reached the most powerful back-up generator box that would provide the same amount of power to the lair as the original source. He texted Raph to make sure the light's came back up, and after a couple of minutes he got a reply saying that everything was working. He nodded his head and patted himself on the back to show his pride in being the technical nerd of his brothers and he was proud of his skills. As he walked back into the lair he grabbed his 3DS and headed over to where his millions of computer monitors were set up right outside his lab. He sat down and started looking up recent and live news websites and podcasts. He was curious as to what would cause such a large and random power outage like that. They hadn't seen the lair that dark in a long time. They boys had been young children the last time the lair went dark and that was because of a really bad weather issue that caused a really bad power outage all throughout the city during the summer. Donnie wondered if this could be the same reason for this power outage, or if it could be something much worse like a cyber-attack from another country. Donnie searched…and searched…and continued to search for a few more minutes, but he couldn't find a single lead as to what had caused the power outage. He then began to wonder if something had happened to the main breaker box. Maybe it had just overheated? Sometimes these things happened and he just needed to go fix some old worn out wires. His suspicions were soon confirmed when he heard his father calling his name from behind him.  
"Donatello? Donatello?" Splinter called out.  
"What's up dad?" Donnie asked as he spun his chair around.  
"I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that way, but one of our electrical boxes had the door open and seemed like someone had shut it down."  
"Wait, it looked like it was turned off? As in the switch was down?" Donnie asked.  
"Yes! Exactly like that my son" Splinter said with quick nods.  
Donnie held up a finger to his father to signal that he needed a moment as he stood up and walked into his lab. He quickly walked over to the drawer where he had left the flash drive that Sam had given him only to find that it was no longer laying in the spot where he had last left it.  
"God dammit" he whispered to himself as he slammed the drawer shut.

"Ugh, Don!?" Raph called from the other room.  
And that fast Donnie was rushing out of his lab as he quickly began shouting directions at Raphael.

 ***Same setting, Raph POV*  
** **Theme:  
Kodaline-Nothing More**

Raph had been continuing his workout routine when suddenly the power went out. Raph groaned as he assumed that Donnie had blown another fuse with one of his crazy inventions.  
"DONNIE!" Raph called from the dojo.  
"It wasn't me I promise!" he called back. "It must be a major city power outage for all the lights to go off like this, I'll fix it don't worry!"  
Raph heard his brother push his chair in at the kitchen and heard the sound from his footsteps gradually get softer and softer as he made his way throughout the sewers to another electrical box.  
Raph started back up with his training. Nothing could be heard except for the sounds of his sais swiftly cutting through the air. He had been throwing punches at his bags for so long that he begun to miss the feeling of slashing with his sais, so this individual training session felt incredible to him right now. He was so distracted by the joy that this workout brought him that he didn't hear the ever so silent sounds of equipment being moved nearby in the storage space in the bottom right circular opening to the dojo.  
Another 5 minutes or so passed by before the lights finally came back on. Raph chuckled to himself as he thought about how his nerdy brother knew where everything was down here in the sewers. If someone told Raph to go get the back-up box working then he would get lost just trying to find it, yet Donnie could find it within a matter of minutes.  
Raph heard his phone go off and saw a text message from his brother asking if everything was up and running again. The older turtle rolled his eyes as he replied to the text message. _"Like you really need to ask dude. If you're the one fixing it then obviously its working"_ he thought to himself as he continued practicing.  
Raph sensed his brother walk back into the lair and head over towards his nerd station. He was beginning to feel a bit hungry himself, so he decided that now was a good time to take a break and get something to eat. He exited the dojo and made a left to head over to the fridge. He grabbed a water bottle and took a drink. It felt nice to actually get some exercise for the enjoyment of it and not solely because of anger. Intense and non-stop workouts were pretty much Raph's way of life, but he knew that when he worked out solely from rage and anger that it eventually took a toll on his body, so this much more relaxed practice session made him feel much better and had actually help calm him down a lot. Just as he was about to grab some pizza to heat up in the microwave he felt something hit the side of the door. He looked down to see that he had forgotten to put his sais back and that they were hitting the door as they stuck out from their holsters. Raph grabbed a couple of slices and placed them on a plate in the microwave, and as the food was heating up he walked back over to the weapons wall and placed his weapons back in their spot. He started heading back over towards the kitchen counter to get his food, but that's when he stopped and paused.

As he heard his father enter the room and start talking to Donnie, Raph turned around to confirm something that he thought he had seen, or more so, something he thought he hadn't seen.  
The hot headed turtle tried to remain calm as he walked back over towards the weapons wall and looked down to where Sam's brother Chuck's sais usually sat. They were one of the smallest pairs so they usually sat along the bottom of the wall, but they were gone. Raph looked up and down the racks where all the various types of weapons were placed and then he looked all along the floor, but still he couldn't land his sights on where the small set of weapons were.  
"Ugh, Don?!" Raph called out to his brother.  
Raph turned and saw his younger brother run out from his lab with a stern and serious expression.  
"Raph we need to get to the surface now" Donnie said in a demanding tone.  
"There's no way, right?" Raph asked. He couldn't believe and he didn't want to believe that Sam had just snuck by them, that she was literally right in the same room as them mere minutes ago. He was still furious with the girl and didn't want to be friends with her, but he did want answers.  
Donnie clenched his hands together and Raph could see the thinner turtles muscles tighten up as he spoke. He could tell that Donnie wasn't exactly ready to face her either, but right now was a 'now or never' type moment whether they were ready to talk to the girl just yet or not.  
"There's a good chance that it is, and if not, then there's going to be trouble. So we need to move now! I'll take the exit by the living room and you take the exit by the kitchen. Run through the usual path and in five minutes go topside. She couldn't have gotten too far, so we should be able to catch up to her if we move fast" Donnie commanded.  
"My sons, what is going on?" Splinter asked, concern flooding through his tone.  
"I'm pretty sure Sam was here just a few minutes ago. She played us once again and slipped right by us, but she's not getting away this time" Donnie said in a low but deep and pained voice.  
Splinter closed his eyes and nodded. Sadness was written on his face as he agreed that the two boys should chase after the girl.  
"Hai Sensei!" the two turtles shouted before sprinting into the sewer tunnels.

Splinter sighed and shook his head.  
"Oh Samantha, if only you could see what you've done to my sons. I don't think you have cruel intentions, but you're making my sons act in ways that I've never seen before. Please just communicate with them tonight, please…"  
Splinter had never sensed a bad aura from the girl, not even on her final night in the lair, yet all this chaos had occurred between her and his sons. It pained him to see his sons react to the situation the way they all had, but he understood they all needed to cope with the emotional blow they had taken, especially Michelangelo who had become so close to the girl. The two were inseparable whenever he saw the duo hanging out in the lair and he could tell by how Mikey was distracted during practices (as in way more distracted than usual) that he truly and deeply longed for any type of contact with Sam.  
That's when the old rat realized that his most vulnerable son was not in the room and didn't know that she was nearby. He quickly pulled out the shell cell that Donnie had made for him and, slowly with one finger since he was the equivalent of an old man, typed up and sent a message to his youngest son that explained what was currently happening with the chase after Sam.  
"I hope you get this message my son. This may be your last chance to talk to her, please take advantage of this moment."  
And with that, Splinter walked down to his small bedroom that was in the circular piece of the living room and laid down to rest, hoping that everything would finally be alright after tonight and that all this depressing craziness would end.

 ***Back up at the surface/the manhole cover in the alleyway behind Sam's apartment building***

 **Theme:  
Starset-Ricochet **

Sam swiftly yet still silently lifted the cover and exit the sewers. She put the cover back down and once again made sure everything in her bag was tight and secure. She let out a breath of relief now that she was safe from being caught. This was one of the first times that she had been able to complete her mission without her emotions getting the best of her, though they were really close to getting the best of her as she sensed Raph's presence in the dojo. The two were probably only a few feet apart and she was terrified that her shaking hands were going to give away her position, but Raph must have been distracted since he didn't hear her (thank god!) and never stopped his workout which was evident from the constant slicing sound of his sais cutting through the air.

Sam started to walk back towards the city streets and was reaching for her board along her back. She thought she was in the clear, that is, until she heard a voice come from behind her.  
"So, is this proof that I should or shouldn't trust you?"  
Sam paused and closed her eyes tight as she recognized Leo's stern voice. She made sure not to show any emotion though. She didn't clench her fists, she didn't let out any loud breaths, and she made sure not to do anything that would display any emotion. She wanted it to seem like she was fine and that nothing was wrong. If she displayed any type of emotion then it would show how much she still cared for the guys, and at this point in time that was no longer an option. Her arm dropped back down to her side as she turned around to face Leo.  
"I don't understand what you're asking" she said with a blank face.  
"You just snuck into our home again, didn't you? I'm not sure if I should be happy that you took the time to come back and visit us, or if I should be upset from your reason for doing so" Leo said but this time without such a strict tone to his voice as usual. Deep down he knew that she was putting up a front with her 'I don't care' act and that she was hiding how she truly felt, so he tried his best to throw the act back at her.  
Sam shrugged. "I didn't do anything wrong. I just returned to take back what was already mine. You can assume whatever you want from that."  
"I guess it was too much for you to say hello?"  
"Last time I checked you guys didn't really want to talk." This time Sam accidentally added some sass to the way she spoke and she knew that the turtle in front of her had picked up on that.  
"It's hard to talk when there's a fist in your face."  
"It's hard to throw a punch when you're handcuffed to a chair."  
"We did what we thought needed to be done to keep us all safe, and after what you did to Raph, it seems we didn't tie you down enough."  
"I've broken free from tougher chains so tying me down wasn't really going to help you."  
"And what would have helped us?"  
"Not leaving your hostage with the hot head of the group, aka the reason your hostage was set off and went on a rampage."  
Leo paused. He knew this was true and he was thinking about how to convert his thoughts to words.  
"Trust me when I say we didn't want to leave Raph alone with you, but we knew that he wouldn't be able to talk reasonably when discussing how to handle the situation and we didn't want to take the risk of you hearing us and tricking us into anything when you opened your eyes."  
 _"Damn, that actually makes sense"_ Sam thought to herself. She tried to think of what to throw back at him since somehow they had gotten themselves into a verbal battle.  
"Why not break into two teams? You know hot head wouldn't hurt his baby brother. You could have left him in the room."  
 _"Shit that's true. Why didn't we think of that idea that night?"_ Leo thought.  
"I guess we trusted that you wouldn't hurt Raph, or any of us, in anyway. Guess we were wrong."  
"I guess I trusted and told the wrong people the information about my past, you know, since they threw it back in my face to the point where I went off like a bomb. Huh, guess I was wrong."

The two hated what they were saying to each other and at this point they didn't really know what they were doing. It was like they were trying to pry information from the other as to what had happened that dreadful last night together while also sharing how the event had made them each feel, yet instead of explaining their thoughts and emotions in a calm and collected way they were doing so in a verbally aggressive way (even if there were both talking in a calm yet serious and solid tone). There were still so many bottled up emotions hiding away within both of them and because of this they weren't able to talk to each other like normal, hence why they were both being so nasty towards one another. This was what Leo feared. Even though he had been searching for Sam he still wasn't ready to actually talk to her just yet, and this was the result of how unprepared he was.

"So being friends with Mikey was wrong? Do you regret that?" Leo asked.

This was the part that Sam was most unprepared for. It was already difficult for her to face the brothers, but Mikey was her best friend which made facing him a million times worse. As much as she cared for all the boys it was always known that she and the youngest turtle had a stronger bond than any of the others did. He was the reason she was even allowed to enter the lair on a daily basis since he was the one who had never given up on her, and seeing him in her room made it even clearer how much he cared about her as well. But she couldn't think of that anymore. She couldn't let any of them come anywhere near her anymore because that would bring them closer to the dangers of the Foot clan and she couldn't let that happen. Sam knew what she had to do and as much as it pained her, she knew that she had to do everything she could to push the guys away from her. She would do whatever it took to keep them safe, even if it meant them all truly wanting nothing to do with her. The more they hated her than the more they would want to stay away from her. If they stopped waiting for her and stopped searching for her then they would always be safe, and she wanted that more than anything, even with the risk that she would personally lose them forever.

She squinted her eyes together. "Who said we were friends?" _"Lies."  
_ "Oh, so now you're going to pretend that you two weren't attached at the hip?"  
"I laughed at his corny jokes and I said what he wanted to hear. If that's friendship then yeah we were best friends." _"Please just believe my lies."  
_ "Really? So you didn't feel anything when you saw him in your room earlier?"  
"*shrug* He looked comfortable, so I guess I felt relaxed after seeing that." _"Ahhh screw you Leo! Just listen to my lies and let me leave."_  
"Alright Sam, moment of truth. How long have you been a member of the Foot clan?"  
"4 years."  
"Why did you join?"  
"Shredder recruited me for my deceptive skills. One of my masters told him about me and he picked me up. I found the whole situation fun and I learned what I was taught quite quickly."  
"Is that why you were wearing a leader's armband? Because you learned and honed your skills so quickly?"  
"You got it."  
"Okay, so why did you tell us about your past?"  
"I needed to get close to you guys, so I edited the facts and told you what I needed to about my past."  
"What parts were edited?" Leo asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.  
"All my family did die at one time in life, but they weren't killed by the Foot. I came up with all of those details by myself."  
"Why did you need to get close to us?"  
"Because Shredder needed someone to track down his enemies, aka you guys."  
"Alright, but why haven't the Foot attacked us even though they know our location?"  
"Because Shredder got the information that he needed and now he's focusing on a new project."  
"And what would that be?"  
"To head back to Tokyo where the main branch is."

Leo could tell that something was up. Why would Shredder have one of his best ninjas get close to him and his brothers just so that he could take whatever information was gathered (whatever the heck that information even was) and take both it and the entire Foot clan itself back to Tokyo? Something wasn't adding up and he was getting fed up with all the lies.

"Alright Sam cut the shit. I don't believe a damn thing you've said so far."  
"What's new?" she said sarcastically.  
"This is your last chance. Tell me the truth, the full and complete truth. No more lies and no more secrets. Spill everything now." Leo said, his strict and demanding voice returning back to normal which signaled that he was done playing games.  
"I already told you everything I know. Shredder got what he wanted so you can just go home and relax, there's nothing for you to worry about. Oh and here's a bonus" she said as she slightly raised her voice, "I've already taken back what belongs to me, so there's no more reasons for me to return to your home. Now you'll never have to see me again."

" _Is that her motive? To push us away? What the hell Sam?!"_  
Leo was clenching his fists now. He was furious with how the girl was talking to him and he was enraged with the fact that after everything they had been through, instead of trying to rekindle what their families had before that dreadful night, she was now making the situation even worse and pushing him even further away.

"So that's it? Your family, OUR family, you're just going to walk away from all of that? Does our family mean that little to you? What about your brother's, what about Mikey?! Doesn't any of that matter? Instead of talking to us and trusting us you're just going to leave and walk away like you never met us? Are we all supposed to continue living life like the other one never existed?"

" _I'm so, so sorry…"_ were the only thoughts in Sam's head before the words came out of her mouth. She looked Leo straight in the eye and said "you were never my brother's. None of you were, and we were never family. I used you, don't you get it? We were never even friends! I did what I needed in order to please my master and that's it, that's the end of the story. I don't know what else you want from-" she suddenly stopped speaking as her eyes went wide and her gaze moved down to the ground.  
Just then Sam felt a presence. He wasn't here yet, but she knew he would be here soon. Her hands began to shake and she rapidly shook her head.  
"No…not like this…" Sam said. She looked back up at Leo. He was taken aback by the fear that was etched onto her face since she had been so serious just seconds ago, yet now she looked like she had just seen a ghost.  
"I need to go" Sam said as she turned around and began sprinting out of the alley way and down the city streets.

Leo was so shocked by her change in emotion that he hadn't realized what was going on until he heard a noise from above. He blinked a few times and finally realized that Sam was no longer standing in front of him, and as he looked up he saw his brother quickly jumping and sliding down rails along the side of the building to his right. As Leo watched his brother make his way down to the ground he then felt a gush of wind as Donnie and Raph rushed past him and up onto the building on his left. They reached the top and began running along rooftops after the girl who was trying to escape.  
"Come on Leo! We need to catch her!" Mikey urged as he now had made his way to the ground and was now motioning for his brother to follow him. "It's late enough that we can try to follow her on the ground!"  
"Mikey wait" Leo said, "Something isn't right."  
"Yeah she's getting away because we're standing around talking!"  
"Mikey wait! We need to talk about this!"  
"And it can't wait until after we get Sam back?!"  
"No!"  
"Why not?!"  
"Because I'm not ready to get Sam back and her running away is a perfect example of that!"

Mikey stood still and faced his brother. Now that he was actually paying attention to Leo and not solely focused on catching up to Sam, he could see that his brother was struggling to stay calm and composed. Something was hurting Leo and Mikey knew that he needed to be here and help his oldest brother who was reaching out to him. Luckily their other two brothers were chasing after the girl at the moment which helped put Mikey at ease and this aided him in giving his full and undivided attention to Leo.  
"Alright. Explain what that means" the younger brother said.  
"Remember how we talked about each of us four holding a different mindset in how we felt about everything that had happened?"  
"Yeah I remember."  
"Well, I thought that I was catching up to you in wanting to look for Sam and figure out what was going on…but then when I finally caught her tonight, I totally crumbled. For the longest time we were just verbally attacking each other and that's nowhere near what I wanted to happen when I finally got to talk to her again."  
"What were you expecting to happen?" Mikey asked calmly.  
"I don't know. I knew it wouldn't be anywhere close to a peaceful conversation, but I guess I hoped that there would be an actual discussion at least. Just, I need you to understand that that's one of the reasons why it's so hard for us to reach the same mindset as you, because I know for a fact that what just happened with me and her would have been ten times worse if she had met Donnie instead of me, and it would have been a million times worse if it had been her and Raph talking."  
Mikey nodded his head. He respected that his brother at least tried to look for the girl and get some answers that could help everyone understand just what was going on and maybe even to find a solution to all this craziness, but Leo's words also made sense to him. He could sense how frustrated his brother was from the conversation he had just had with Sam and he knew the assumptions made about what would have happened if Sam had interacted with one of the other two brothers was spot on. This conversation had definitely helped open his eyes to how his brothers were feeling and he was grateful that Leo had helped him get to that point.  
"Thanks for at least attempting to get some answers, and thanks for this. I'm sorry you guys have been struggling and that I haven't exactly been as supportive as I should be" Mikey said as he gaze drifted off to the side as he felt some guilt wash over him.  
"It's not your fault," Leo cut in, "we all know that you were the closest to her. Each of us is just processing all of this in our own ways."  
Mikey paused before he spoke. "No offense, but couldn't this have waited until later?"  
"No, because I have more to tell you" Leo said as he walked over and stood closer to his brother. "Back then when I was talking to Sam, I told her to spill the truth about everything and that this was her final chance to do so. I hoped she would cooperate, but I could tell that she was lying straight through her teeth."  
Mikey's eyes widened with curiosity. "What did you say to each other?"  
"I asked her about her reasons for getting close to us and she said that she lied about her past so that she could get close to us and gather the information that she needed."  
Mikey's expression changed from curious to confused. "What information would she be trying to gather besides where we're living?"  
"That's the thing, she wouldn't say. And then when I asked about the Foot not attacking us even though they know our location, she said that 'Shredder got the information that he needed and now he's focusing on a new project that involved him moving all of his clan back to the main Tokyo branch in Japan."  
Mikey was silent and Leo could tell that the wheels in his younger brother's head were turning as he tried to process everything that he was just told. Finally, the light bulb went off.  
"She's making excuses to try and keep us away from her" he said with wide eyes.  
"Exactly!" Leo said with a nod.  
"But…but why would she try to push us away? On that final night she kept trying to get us to listen to her so she could tell us 'the truth' and so she could tell us her side of the story. If she wanted us to listen to her so badly that night then why is she purposefully trying to push us away now?" he asked, sadness in his eyes.  
"That's what I'm worried about. Everything she said tonight, those were the true lies. Everything she said made no sense, and then when she sensed you getting closer, she totally freaked out which proves that she still cares about us, especially you. Knowing this and then knowing that she resorted to those crappy lies proves that something's wrong and that Sam is in some type of danger." Leo put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "But don't worry, we're going to get to the bottom of this. We're going to find out what's going on, I promise."  
Mikey gave his brother a small smile, but it soon faded away as he realized that they could have been chasing Sam now and getting all the answers that they needed, yet here they were talking about it instead of doing something about it.  
"Again, no offense Leo, but why aren't we chasing after Sam NOW and getting the answers that we want?"  
Leo was serious again as well. "You know how you and I are able to discuss this? How we can talk about the fact that something is wrong with Sam and that we're both interested in finding out what's going on? It all goes back to what I said a little while ago. Raph and Donnie aren't ready to have these conversations and if they overheard us holding a conversation like this then that would create even more chaos within our home."  
Mikey tilted his head to the side. "But, couldn't we just 'go on patrol,'" he said as he used his finger to make the quote signs, "and talk about Sam then?"  
"If those two saw us going on patrol together every night together or even just in general then they would catch on that we were up to something. Have you forgotten that we're talking about the nosy Raphael and the genius Donatello?" Leo asked, a bit of playful teasing in his voice to help ease the tension a bit.  
Mikey nodded and let out a small chuckle. "Alright, I understand. So this was the only time that we could have had this conversation without those two knowing?" Mikey asked.  
"Yes exactly…" Leo trailed off as he made a weird face while staring at his brother.  
Mikey took a step back. "You okay bro?" he asked nervously.  
"Heh yeah, sorry. I just noticed something."  
"What's that?"  
"I don't know if it's because of Sam, or if it's because of your emotions getting involved, but one of those two factors gets the wheels in your head to start turning and you actually sound pretty intelligent. I'm not used to only telling you things one time because you actually understand it the first time around."  
Mikey squinted his eyes. "Wheels? I thought Donnie said we have cells and nerves and stuff inside our brains."  
Leo rolled his eyes as he turned and began to walk away. "And that fast you're back to normal. Come on, let's head home for the night before the sun starts to rise."  
Mikey followed behind his older brother and the two returned home, waiting for their brothers to return home as well.

* **Moments before, Raph and Donnie POV***

"GOD DAMNIT!" Raph shouted as he punched the rooftop below his feet.  
They both had just seen her and they felt like they were catching up to her, but she made one turn around a corner and that fast she was already all the way at the other end of the street. Raph continued to voice his frustration.  
"First her immense amount of strength, and now she has immense speed? When did she get this good? She was never this skilled around us, right?!" he shouted as he turned back around to face Donnie who was currently dragging his palms down his face in annoyance.  
"Raph what are we doing?" he groaned under his hands.  
"What do you mean? We're trying to get some damn answers!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air as he did so.  
"But, it's just for answers, right?" Donnie asked.  
"Of course! You didn't come out here just to be friends with her again did you? Because if that's the case then I need to knock some sense into you" he growled.  
Donnie shook his head. "Trust me I don't want to just welcome Sam back into the family with open arms like that, and if we ever do trust her again then it will be a long while before I can look at her and treat her the same way. These games she's playing are changing everything I've ever thought of her and things will never be the same no matter what comes next."  
"So why are you questioning why we're out here then?" Raph asked as he glared over at his brother.  
"Just making sure that's why we're out here is all" Donnie said, beginning to mumble as he spoke.  
"Sounds like you're trying to make sure that's why you're out here" Raph said as he started walking over towards Donnie.  
"I mean…*sigh* maybe I am. This whole situation is just confusing as hell" Donnie groaned as he tilted his head back in frustration.  
Raph stood closer to Donnie but paused before saying anything else. Hell wasn't exactly the worst of the many cuss words that one could say, but for Donnie to say that was a huge deal since he never cussed. He wouldn't complain if someone else cursed here and there, but Donatello NEVER said curse words, ever! So Raph could tell that his younger brother was very upset and perplexed from everything that had happened.  
"What's going on?" Raph asked cautiously.  
Donnie looked back at his brother and could sense that he was actually willing to listen and help rather than just yell at what he didn't agree with.  
"It's just…more than anything I'm pissed that I allowed someone to trick me. I let some play their games and create a puzzle that I couldn't and still can't solve with the information I already have. That means that in order to understand what the heck is going on I'd have to gather new info, but that means moments like this where we might have to chase down Sam and just…I don't want to do that in a sense because then it seems like we care about her and are showing emotions towards her and the situation at hand. But I don't want to do that! I mean holy crap she could have killed you!" he said, now using his hands as he talked, "She almost took you from us in a way where we can't just run after and save you and then bring you back. I don't want to care about her in any way and I don't, but…but…"  
"There's times where you feel like you have to force yourself to stay away?" Raph cut in.  
Donnie was hesitant since he wasn't sure which direction Raph was heading in with this question. The older turtle sensed this and continued on with the conversation.  
"Look Don I feel the same way, and I know you're like me in the sense that you feel like you were played and toyed with and that you want to resent her for that. Even though we feel this way there are still times where we think back to moments where she was our friend, and honestly I hated myself for allowing myself to think back to those times, but Sensei and April told me something that helped me look past that a little bit."  
Donnie was a bit shocked at how sentimental his usually hot headed brother was acting right now and he was curious as to what he was told that helped him get this way.  
"What was is they said?" Donnie asked.  
"They told me that besides for April, Sam was the only other friend we have ever had and that because of that bond that we had created it's hard to just push that away like it never happened. They said that it would be difficult for anyone to get really close and open up to someone and then suddenly just try to eliminate them from your life like they never even existed."  
"Ahhh, so it's a psychological thing that we can't fully control then."  
"Heh, you already knew that part, didn't you?"  
The two brothers were now slightly smiling at each other as they began to ease the tension some.  
"Yeah I knew about that part and I understand how all that works, I guess it's more so that I wish that I could override that, you know? Like obviously you can't just wipe someone from your memory, but I want to and wish I could. I don't want to see Sam the same way as before the incident, yet all our memories with her makes it difficult to stop feeling concerned about what is and isn't true and if she's okay or not."  
Raph walked over and threw his arm around his brother's shoulder.  
"Just know that you're not alone. I'm annoyed and confused by this situation and the resulting emotions and thoughts as well."  
"Thanks Raph" Donnie said sincerely, "and regardless of how we feel for her, we're going to get those answers, both for ours and for Mikey's sake. I can't even imagine how he's feeling right now."  
Raph shook his head. "Sadly he has to learn through these messed up experiences that you can't just trust people so easily, but I'll admit that I hate seeing him so broken. But hey, that just means that the next time the Foot attack, we're going to get some answers out of them about what the hell has been going on and we'll learn the real truth about Sam and her actions and motives" he said as he put his knuckle up for a fist bump.  
Donnie nodded and completed the fist bump as he said "agreed."  
And now that the two were much calmer, they decided to end their chase and head back home before the sun would begin to rise.

 ***Moments later, Sam's POV*  
Theme:  
Plumb-I Want You Here  
Skillet-Everything Goes Black**

Sam laid down on her back on the rooftop of the building she was now on. As soon as Sam sensed Raphael and Donatello running along the rooftops above her she had quickly pulled a small needle out from her back pack and injected a small dose of a stronger mutagen into her arm that had helped her run at a speed that she had never traveled before. She was successful in getting away from the turtles, but now she felt so weak that she had that 'sitting on pins and needles' feeling, like when you sit in a crisscross position for too long and your legs 'fall asleep,' except now she felt this all throughout the lower half of her body.  
She just couldn't do it. As soon as she sensed Mikey she knew she had to get out of there. If he had started talking to her then without realizing it her emotions would get the best of her and she'd unintentionally start answering all his questions truthfully, and that would mean him knowing about why she joined the Foot clan and him wanting to try and help her, and she couldn't allow that to happen.  
At the same time, everything she had just experienced within that half hour was just as heartbreaking as the incident that had happened 12 days ago. She had no idea how she had spoken to Leo for as long as she had, and she hated the way their conversation went down. She didn't want to have to say what she had, but it was the only way to keep them away from the dangers that now came with knowing her. She knew that speaking to Raph or Donnie would have been impossible since their last conversation made the boys act in ways that Sam had never seen before and she wasn't ready or prepared to confront those expressions and voices from those two yet, or ever really.

And then there was Mikey. Sam couldn't get over what she saw in her bedroom that night. She expected Mikey to regret ever trusting her in the past and that he would loathe any future interaction they might have, yet he was waiting for her in her bedroom in hopes that they would get to talk again, and knowing him, he was waiting for the moment that he would be able to swoop in and take care of and protect her. She didn't deserve his friendship and in a way she wanted him to hate her and to forget about her for his own safety. Tears filled Sam's eyes as she paced back and forth, grabbing the sides of her head as she thought of all the ways that she had hurt Michelangelo and his family and she was filed with anger.

She then thought about how tonight was so similar to the way that she had first ever met the turtles. The reason she met the turtles was because she snuck into their home, stole from them, hid and snuck around behind their backs, and then did everything she could to escape. Though there were so many similarities in the situations, there were multiple reasons why tonight was a million times worse than when she first got on the turtles bad side. In the past she had wandered into a new territory whereas tonight she had purposefully broken into the boy's home. In the past she had taken something from them and then hid so that she could learn more about them whereas tonight she stole and hid from them so that she could get further away and never see them again. And the worst difference of all was that in the past there was at least one brother who came after her and made everything better. One of the four brothers took the time to meet back up with her and sort everything out to the point that everyone was on good terms with each other, but that wasn't and never again would happen now.

Michelangelo wasn't coming back and Sam would make sure of it, no matter how much it killed her on the inside. She would have loved for him to come after her and take care of her like he always did and right now she would have loved for him to be the one to dry her crying eyes, and this made her even more upset.  
"No! He can't come back! You don't need him!" she shouted as she slammed her palm against the wall of the entry way on top of the building.

She was disappointed in herself for wanting him to come after her. She knew that Mikey coming after her would lead to his demise and she didn't want that, but god life was so much more difficult without him now. Sam had become so spoiled with the attention that her friend had given her and now she was broken without him. It was painful having to live without the one thing that she wanted and needed and right now it was killing her more than ever before. Her breathing grew heavier and heavier to the point where she kept coughing and choking on her sobs. The last time she acted like this was 12 days ago, and the last time before that was when her siblings had passed away.

She couldn't handle feeling this way and she didn't know how many more times she could feel this type of pain. So many thoughts started flooding through her mind. She thought of how unfair this whole situation was. The plan was to help in the demise of the main New York branch of the Foot clan and it was supposed to work out where the turtles never even knew about it and she felt anger in the fact that every part of the plan had gone sour. She was irritated that there was no way to know what would happen whether she had or hadn't told the turtles about the plan and that she wasn't able to make the best decision of what to do because she didn't know how either situation would play out. She was outraged with how the guys reacted and how they treated her and now she was furious that after they had pushed her away in the way they ALL had, they were now all trying to hunt her down for whatever their personal reasons were. She was infuriated that if she did tell the guys the truth then it could get them killed and her blood boiled more and more knowing that she had to face all this by herself. She couldn't go to the guys and more specifically she couldn't go to her best friend, the person she longed for most, and explain all this craziness and finally lift this heavy weight off her chest.

Sam was crying her eyes out at this point as she rapidly paced back and forth. By the time she had become quite violent and had been punching the walls as she thought of how unfair everything was and how miserable she was that there was nothing she could do to fix what she had destroyed. She was finally happy and she was the only one to blame for throwing away her spot in the family that she had just joined. That's when she realized that she was standing at the top of a huge building in the middle of New York City. She quickly walked over towards the edge and just stood there, looking down at how far away the ground was below. If she jumped then she wouldn't be alone anymore. She would never feel this pain anymore and she would never be able to hurt anybody else ever again. There would be no more suffering, no more lies and hiding behind peoples backs, no more chances of her endangering anybody else's life, none of that would ever happen again if she just ended everything now. She stood there…and stood there…and after what felt like forever Sam moved, but she threw herself backwards so that she collapsed into a curled up ball on the rooftop.

"AHHH FUCK!" Sam screamed. She couldn't do it. She didn't want to die yet and there was so much that she still wanted to live to see. She wanted to see Jay grow old with his future family, she wanted to see Shredder fall and for her to live a life where she wasn't always looking over her shoulder to make sure that he wasn't watching her ever move, she wanted to learn more about those that she had grown closer to in the clan, she wanted to travel and see South Korea where so many stories from her families past had taken place, and even though she knew it would never happen, she wanted to at least live on and hope that one day her and Mikey could be friends again.

Sam continued to think about these happier and calmer thoughts until she was finally able to breath normally and see clearly again. She then stood up and made sure she had regained all function of her body again. Even though she had just been pacing around and throwing punches, she hadn't felt a single thing and hadn't really controlled any of her movements until now. She made sure she was okay and even practiced saying some basic phrases so that if she was questioned at headquarters she wouldn't crack and lose control of herself again. She took one final breath and took off running along the rooftops, making sure to stay focused and look out for anyone that might be following her along the way.

 **RIP Chester Bennington. I was going to see you live in concert in just a few weeks at the beginning of August and this was going to be my first concert. I was honored to know that your voice would be one of the first I'd ever hear live and I literally wouldn't believe my boyfriend this afternoon when he told me what had happened. I don't know about everyone else and their beliefs, but I do hope and believe that there's a heaven of some type, and I hope you're resting peacefully there. You don't realize that for people like me you're part of my daily to weekly routine. You're constantly on my phone because I'm constantly listening to you sing, and there are thousands of us out there where you may have no idea we exist, but we know you and you are a part of our daily lives and you will continue to be a part of it as well. You are a legend that I sadly missed the chance to see, but you will never be forgotten.**

 **I wanted to write this since I had already completed this chapter and just needed to review it when the news of his death came out. I don't want anyone thinking that I wrote parts of this chapter because of this news. I've had the set up for this chapter planned for a long time now, but I also wanted to write this memorial here because I've been a fan of Chester and LP's music for a long time now and because he and all of Linkin Park have been one of my most favorite music groups for as long as I can remember. Their emotional music, both newer and older songs, have helped fuel my creativity throughout my time working on this story (which can be seen since some of their songs were listed as 'themes' for many of my past chapters) and even way before then their music was always unique and motivational and inspirational to me. Rest peacefully Chester, you mean a lot more to a whole lot of people than you will ever know.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #24

 ***Friday August 31** **st** **, late at night on a random rooftop within New York City***

Mikey was crouching down and hiding behind the raised ledge along the side of the building he was standing on and watched the two men separate from the rest of their group down below. For the past week Mikey had been white lying to his brothers. Every night he had told them that he was going up to the surface to wait for Sam, which was true, but he knew they assumed that he was heading to Sam's room each time he went topside, that's where the lying came in. He was still waiting and looking for Sam but he was now doing so in a new way. Each night he would run along the rooftops and look for Purple Dragons members that he could use to get the information that he was looking for. The Purple Dragons were currently working under Shredder and his clan, but they were nowhere near as strong and as skilled as the Foot clan itself, so whenever they spotted something they thought was too tough for them then they would immediately contact the clan and help would be sent to complete their task. Mikey would have just aimed for the Foot clan right off the bat, but it was like they had completely vanished ever since the incident with Sam. The Purple Dragons however were still on the move throughout the city. Their work hadn't involved any violence, but they were still selling and picking up drugs, weapons, information, etc. all throughout the city and tonight Mikey had found two Dragons members walking alone.

He secretly trailed them from his position on the rooftop and watched their every move. He followed them for about 20 minutes before the two men finally stopped in front of a dimly lit alley way where the two pulled out a lighter and started smoking some cigarettes. Mikey waited another 10 minutes in case the two were meeting someone in this position, but the two just continued to talk and smoke by themselves. Mikey thought this was to perfect and that his plan to get Sam back might actually work. He got his nunchuks ready and he leaped down where the alley was so dark that you couldn't even see your hand if it was in front of your face. The two men froze, not sure what to do or how to react. They soon began to reach for the hand guns they had on them but before they could even shoot they had been sliced up by some shuriken starts that had been thrown at them.  
"What the hell?" one of the men shouted as he held the gun close to his face so he could inspect the damage it had taken. As soon as the man looked back up, a huge figure had come rushing at him and slammed him up against the wall to their side. The impact was rough and the man came crashing to the ground, unconscious from the blow his head had taken against the wall.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the second man said as he put his hands up in defense and slowly started backing away.  
Mikey glared at the man as he reached out and clutched the man's shirt in his hand and pulled him in close.  
"Don't play defensive with me. You have a way of getting information that I want, and that means you're going to do exactly what I say" Mikey snarled.  
"Oh yeah?" the man asked with an evil grin. "What are you going to do? You guys don't kill people."  
Without saying a word Mikey flipped the man onto his stomach. He placed one foot on the man's back as he grabbed his arms and pulled backwards. The man began to shriek in pain, but those were soon muffled by dirt as Mikey placed his other foot on the man's head so that he was now completely standing on the body beneath him.  
"You're right," the turtle said in a low and menacing tone, "I won't kill you. But when I'm done, you'll wish I would have."  
He then took his feet off the man, but then leaned forward and pulled the man up by the hair on the back of his head. Mikey punched the man in the back and then spun him around. He kneeled down on one leg and shoved the man onto his knee, and right after he slammed his elbow into the victim's stomach.  
The man coughed and coughed as he tried to catch his breath. "Okay, okay, what do you want from me?"  
"I know you are in contact with the Foot Clan. Call one of the leader's and tell them and JUST THEM to get their ass over here. If you expose the true reason why they're being called," Mikey said as he pulled a kunai knife from his pocket and held it so that the tip of the blade was resting against the man's neck, "well, I think you know what will happen next."  
Mikey felt weird as he talked to the man like this. This was completely against what he and his brought stood for and believed in. The man was right when he said that the turtles didn't kill, and Mikey really didn't want to hurt this man too much either, but Sam's life was on the line and he would do whatever he had to in order to get her back and guarantee her safety. It would have been much more comforting if it was Raph or Leo in this current situation since they usually played the 'tough guy' card and had done this so many times that they knew how to handle this type of thing with ease and knew what was and wasn't going too far, but sadly having either one of them help wasn't an option. Even though it had been a month now, Raph was still with Donnie in not wanting anything to do with Sam, and Leo was supposedly helping to track down Sam's whereabouts, yet every night he came home with the exact same results of not knowing a damn thing. This meant that Mikey had to take matters into his own hands no matter how risky and intense things got for him.  
*Cough, cough* okay I'll call them" the man choked out.  
Mikey shot him an evil grin. "Great. Here, this might be more comfortable" Mikey said as he stood and dragged the man by his shirt and threw his body against the brick wall of the alley. The man groaned as he pulled out a cell phone and called for a leader. He didn't give a reason as to why he needed assistance but rather just said 'there's something I think you should see. Come alone please to keep the others safe.'  
 _"I know there will obviously be more than one Foot soldier, but hopefully it's no more than 20 at max. I can successfully handle that many on my own without facing any serious injuries"_ Mikey thought to himself.  
The two waited silently for the Foot soldiers to arrive at the given spot. Mikey stood still and never moved unless the man in his grasp tried moving around and tried fidgeting his way out of the turtles grip. In those cases Mikey shoved the man's body further and harder against the wall until the man stopped squirming around. After about 20 minutes or so was when Mikey sensed a presence nearby. Seconds later he then heard the sounds of feet leaping down from the rooftops and ladders from above and then start nearing closer and closer to where he was standing. He picked up and threw the Purple Dragon's member out of the alley and onto the main sidewalk of the city walkway.  
"If you're not gone by the end of the fight then I'll really kick your butt" Mikey snarled at the gang member.  
The man shivered with fear, nodded his head, and quickly ran away.

Mikey then turned to face the soldiers walking towards him. He clenched his fists as he not only counted ten soldiers in the alley way, but then another ten walking across the street to where he was standing, and then another ten on the rooftop of the building to the left of the alley, and THEN ANOTHER TEN on the rooftop of the building to the right of the alley.  
 _"Great, just perfect. There's always about 10 to 20 soldiers for the four of us to share, and the one day I'm alone is when 40 soldiers decide to show up. Oh well, let's get this show on the road."  
_ Mikey pulled out his nunchuks and shot a nasty smile towards the soldiers walking towards him from the back of the alley.  
"Alright!" he exclaimed, "this is fine! Perfect even! There's never enough of you guys around so I'll make sure to take all my energy out on you guys tonight. But once I win, one of you better tell me ALL the information that I'm looking for, got it?!"  
As soon as those final words left his lips, many of the soldiers from the rooves started leaping down to where he was standing. Each of them tried landing kicks close to Mikey's head, but he dodged each one, and the kicks he couldn't dodge he whapped away with his nunchuks. He then jumped onto a dumpster nearby and then leaped over a large crowd of soldiers that had been surrounding him. He landed on the main sidewalk of the open walkway in the middle of the city and began to run. He knew this was extremely dangerous since he was now out in the open, but there was nothing else he could have done. Attempting to fight that many soldiers at once was suicide, so sadly running away for the time being was the only option he had in surviving this fight.  
As he passed another alley way, he then heard shrieks of pain come from behind him as he also heard multiple *thud* sounds. He turned his head as he ran and then quickly came to a halt as he saw numerous soldiers lying on the ground, clasping their shoulders, hips, and calves where there were shuriken stars sticking out of them. This had taken out a good 10 or so soldiers. Mikey's curiosity as to how this had happened was answered instantly as Raph and Leo ran out from the alley and rushed towards the huge crowd of soldiers that were still on the ground. Mikey then heard a loud *bang* as a soldier from the roof above had come crashing down into an open dumpster down below on the ground. The young turtle looked up and saw Donatello fighting the few soldiers that were still on the roof tops as he knocked them off the top of the building each time he saw padded dumpsters down below.  
"MIKEY! SOME HELP PLEASE!" Leo shouted from the original nearby alley.  
Mikey turned back towards his oldest brothers and ran back to where they were currently fighting the rest of the huge crowd of soldiers.  
Four soldiers soon circled around him, but they were no match for the adrenaline filled Michelangelo. The young turtle hooked his nunchuks onto the sword that was swung near his head and with the momentum of the swing he pulled forward and threw the soldier onto the soldier that had been standing behind Mikey. The other two men in black ran up to Mikey's left and right sides and using kunai knives they tried slashing near Mikey's shoulders, but the turtles movements were quicker and he swung his nunchuks so that they would clash with the blades. When the time was right, Mikey then ducked and swung his leg out and tripped the soldier on his right so that he began to fall backwards, but before his body hit the ground, Mikey quickly pulled a chain sickle from his back straps and swung the blade so that it swung around the falling man's ankles. Mikey then used all his strength to then swiftly swing the man around so that he collided with the other soldier.

By that time Donnie was done with the soldiers on the roof and was now running along his brother's side. Donnie looked as if he was about to say something, but instead he just stared and shook his head at his younger brother as he ran past him. Mikey could tell how upset he was with what he had done, but now wasn't the time to worry about all that, and Mikey got his head back in the game as he chased after Donnie and continued to fight alongside his brother's and take out the Foot soldiers.

As the two were running back towards the larger group, Donnie saw a handful or soldiers preparing to throw some stars at the two brothers. He turned and use his elbow to break the window of the large truck beside them, opened the door, and pulled Mikey along with him as he climbed into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. The two sat back as far as they could as the shuriken stars sliced into the door and pierced their way through so that the tips of the stars could be seen from the inside of the vehicle. Donnie reached for a smoke bomb that he had made by mixing and pouring some chemicals into egg shells and threw it through the broken window. The smoke made a thick screen that lasted long enough for the two brothers to slip out through the passenger door and out of the truck. As the smoke cleared, the soldiers were shoved backwards as Mikey and Donnie each held a side of Mikey's chain sickle and charged towards the soldiers, wrapping them up in the chain. Mikey and Donnie then knocked each soldier out with their own individual weapons as the soldiers were stumbling around and trying to catch their footing.  
"This fight isn't worth the risk, everyone retreat!" one of the soldier's with a red armband shouted. Within seconds each of the remaining conscious soldiers picked up an injured comrade and fled the scene.  
Mikey began to run after the fleeing soldiers, hoping that they would lead him to where Sam was being held captive, but he was stopped by Leonardo who jumped in front of him.  
"Mikey. Turn. Around. NOW." Leo snarled through his grinding teeth.  
Mikey knew that he was in deep shit and that there was no way of escaping his brother's now, so with a clenched jaw and pursed lips, he turned around and headed for the alley way where the manhole cover that allowed his brothers to reach the surface was located.

 ***Not much later, back at the lair***

The entire walk back had been silent, awkwardly silent. No one had said a single word and that's how Mikey liked it. He just wanted to reach his room without anyone talking to him so that he could start working on a new plan for that following night on how he would bring Sam back home. Of course his commonly hot headed brother couldn't hold back his temper any longer. He hated long periods of silence like this and now that they were home his fuse had run short.  
"So what the hell was that?!" he shouted towards his youngest brother who had been walking ahead of him.  
Mikey ignored his brother since he knew the argument that would follow would be brutal and ugly, but Raph wasn't going to allow the youngest turtle to walk away so easily.  
"Mikey! Get your ass over here before I chase you down and beat the answer out of you!" Raph shouted.  
Mikey turned around, but he stood in his spot in the entry way that lead to his and Raph's bedrooms as he spoke, not daring to move anywhere near Raphael.  
"You want to know what that was?" he asked calmly but sternly, "that was me trying to get my best friend back-"  
"You're still on that? Dude she's gone! She's not your friend in any way and she never was!" Raph bellowed as he walked over towards his brother.  
Mikey stood his ground, defending Sam while also literally standing still and not approaching Raph to make the situation worse.  
"That's a lie and you know it."  
"No, what I know is that she lied to us in the worst way possible and then tried to kill me with her random increased amounts of strength which she also kept a secret from us!" Raph shouted as he now was standing so close to his brother that their foreheads were touching.  
This then set off Michelangelo's fuse. He thought back to when April had accidentally butt dialed him and Leo and what Raph had confessed in that phone call, and this became the sole thing on the young turtles mind as he shoved his older brother backwards and away from him.  
"That was only because you insulted her and her families past to her face! I mean Jesus Raph do you ever think before you speak?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Mikey exclaimed.  
"What is wrong with me?! Maybe that someone I trusted was wearing a leader's armband for the Foot clan, or maybe that they had strength that none of us had ever seen before. Maybe some of us are sick and tired of being lied to every time things finally start to seem calm and collected!" he shouted as he then shoved his brother nastily.  
"Well maybe if you had let her explain herself then none of this would be happening! What if she had been captured and forced into the Foot clan?! And what if the one chance she had to call out for help was when we fucking pushed her away!?" he shouted as he shoved Raph back in the same way.  
"Language" Leo groaned. He meant this for both of the brothers, but Mikey had already lost control and this comment had now gained and redirected his angered attention.  
"Screw you Leo, you liar!" Mikey shouted as he pointed at his brother. "You said you were going to help me and you haven't done shit! I'm the only one trying to figure out what the heck is going on!"  
"Wait, what?" Donnie asked. "What does he mean lying?" he asked forcefully.  
Leo tilted his head back in frustration. "I understand and respect that you and Raph don't want to look for her yet, and that's fine, but obviously something about this entire situation is twisted and I wanted to know why, so I told Mikey that I would help him search for Sam."  
"WOOOOOOW!" Raph roared. "Wow Leo! I knew you could be a soft leader at times but wow! I never thought you would ever stoop this low! First you let the criminal into our home where she played her games and now you're searching for her to bring her back! I just can't fathom how the heck your mind works!" Raph said as he was now getting closer and closer to Leo, who had now also gained Raph's angered attention.  
"And that's why I'm the leader Raph, because I think through situations before acting. Something's not right about all of this but you can't deny that.." Leo could tell by his brother's expression that his words had stung more now than ever before. "Sam said something like that to you, didn't she?" Leo asked cautiously. "You let her get to you, didn't you? You both picked at each other's deepest personal wounds and that's how everything exploded that night."  
Raph bit his lip, making sure that he didn't let his brother guilt trip him into thinking that everything that night was solely his fault.  
"Well it's hard not to pick when the same person keeps making the wounds larger" Raph scoffed under his breath.  
"What are you talking about?! You started it!" Mikey shouted.  
"Well none of this would have ever happened if you hadn't started hanging out with her in the first place" Raph said, spitting with hatred.  
"Bullshit! You enjoyed her coming down here and I won't believe anything otherwise!"  
"I enjoyed what I THOUGHT was our friend! She's proven that she's not our ANYTHING!"  
Everyone stopped talking when they heard a *slam* from further across the room and saw that Donnie had slammed his hand down on his desk.  
"How about the fact that letting her come back could lead us to this exact same situation again? None of us know what's real anymore. YOU don't even know what's real anymore!" Donnie said as he scowled at Mikey. "Doesn't that scare the shit out of any of you?! No matter how close any of us got to her none of us are able to figure out and understand what the heck is going on. That could mean a variety of things, some of the worst being that she played us like a fiddle OR that after everything we all went through together that she still didn't trust us enough to ask for help. Regardless I don't want to have to go through that again and I don't get how any of you could want to!"  
Mikey bit his lip before he spoke. He understood how his brother had felt because to certain extents he had felt the same way. It broke his heart to think that Sam had either played with his emotions and vulnerabilities or that she still didn't trust him after all this time, so in this sense he understood how Donnie felt. But without any proof that Sam had truly turned against them, he couldn't just give up on his best friend.  
"What happened to being innocent until proven guilty?" Mikey asked calmly.  
"Is punching me to death not evidence enough?" Raph asked nastily.  
Mikey glared at him as he spoke. "That whole night is a chaotic case file in itself and it includes you being a total jerk, so until the full story comes out, no it's not."  
"So me dying doesn't mean shit to you?!"  
"OF COURSE IT DOES YOU IDIOT!" Mikey howled. "I'd lose my mind if anything happened to any of you! Why do you think I told her to leave that night?! I couldn't believe what she did and for that night I hated her guts and wanted nothing to do with her!..." he paused before he spoke. "But what if we're wrong? What if everything is truly a messed up misunderstanding and Sam is still one of us? What if she's being tortured while we're just standing around arguing? What if she's dead and we're here doing nothing?!"  
"THEN SHE SHOULD HAVE COME TO US!" Raph and Donnie shouted at the same time, both a bit shocked at how their responses matched word for word.  
"Well why would she when we treat her like this?" Leo asked.  
The middle two brothers were now glaring at him. "What?" they again said simultaneously.  
"What if she had come to us and we had treated her like this? Obviously she would have regretted talking to us about her decision, IF that's even the reason she's there. Until we find her we'll never know."  
"Why are you so infatuated with her?" Raph snarled.  
"I'm not infatuated with her, I want answers!" Leo said. Now it was his fuse that was beginning to burn out. "Do you honestly think we would choose her over our own brother? We were all on your side that night and did everything we could to protect you, and for me that includes knowing why the hell our supposed friend was about to bash your head in! You're always the one who wants to seek revenge against whoever has wronged you, yet when someone almost takes your life you suddenly get so scared that you run away and hide?! Where's the Raph who would want to fight the person who harmed him? And you!" Leo shouted as he now faced Donnie, "I get that you're scared and you're pissed that someone MAY HAVE played with your mind, but don't you want to avenge that? Don't you want to fight and win like when we first met her?! I get that all of this is terrifying in different ways and I'm nervous as well, but that's all the more reason that I want to know the truth about what the heck is going on!"

"I believe all your questions will be answered now" came a male voice off in the distance.  
The boys were all so busy arguing that they hadn't notice April and their father enter the room from the entrance near the kitchen, and they also hadn't realized that tangled up in their Sensei's tail was a body. He flipped the body up and slammed it down onto the ground in front of where the boys were all fighting with each other.  
All four turtles froze in shock. They could tell by the height and layout of this figure that it wasn't Sam, but what they did recognize was the uniform of a Foot soldier.  
Leo looked up with wide eyes. "Dad…"  
"I found him wondering a tunnel of the sewers that we rarely ever use, and I decided we would give him a warm welcome" Splinter said as he began wrapping his knuckles, preparing for a fight if the event was needed.  
"Ughhhhh, wait, please" the masked voice groaned.  
"Why should we?" Leo asked, nothing but anger in his voice.  
Without saying a word, the body moved and its hand removed the mask to reveal the face of a young Asian male.  
Mikey instantly recognized the lightly tanned face, the visible forehead with the black hair pushed back, the brown eyes, every detail of this face that he had seen in pictures multiple times.  
"Jay…" Mikey mumbled.  
His brothers quickly looked at him with wide eyes and then back down at the man on the floor.  
"So, I guess the whole family are Foot followers" Raph growled as he cracked his knuckles.  
"Please," Jay said as he moved into a bowing position on the floor, "please just listen to what I have to say. I can't see her suffer anymore, and if anything happens to either of us then I just need to know that you guys know the truth."  
The turtles paused, none of them knowing how exactly they should react to this. For an entire month they had been struggling with not knowing what was and wasn't true, and after having one of their craziest fights to date about this topic, here was suddenly a chance to have all their questions answered.  
"I won't guarantee that we'll believe you, but we'll listen, so start talking" Mikey said sternly.  
The older three brothers nodded, agreeing that this seemed to be the best way to handle things for now.

 **Theme: Hurts-Illuminated**

Jay slowly moved his head so that he could look up at the turtles, and he began to stand up once he realized that they were actually going to give him a chance to speak.  
"*sigh* it all began in 2006. I was only 15 at the time so I was still learning about the dangers of this world. Everything that happened that night literally happened by chance. It could have happened to anyone, but for whatever reason life decided that I would be that evening's victim. I was heading back home from hanging out with some friends that day. I'll admit it was way later than any average teenager should be heading home, but I knew my parents would freak out if I wasn't in my bed the next morning whether I was safe or not, so I had to head home. I turned a corner on whatever street it was and coincidentally the Foot were robbing and beating up members of an innocent family. The grandparents were well known scientists and Shredder wanted them on his team, and since they didn't join willingly, he forced them into the group like he does with most people. They're sons, daughter in laws, and grandkids were living with them. The grandparents were beaten and dragged away, the parents were all killed, and the kids were knocked unconscious and kidnapped so that they would be forced into training for the Foot clan. I tried to hide, but I was caught. What I would eventually learn was a current leader came over and threatened me. He said that if I went to the cops then I would regret it for the rest of my life. My parents however had taught me to always trust the police and that working with them would always be the safest thing to do, so once I knew the soldiers were long gone I sprinted to the nearest police station and told them everything I knew. Within that following week ALL the soldiers that were part of the attack were captured and taken to jail. The articles kept my name anonymous and I thought that meant that I was safe, but days later I would learn that I was wrong."  
"That's when they killed your parents. To prove a point and get revenge against you" April cut in.  
Jay silently nodded his head. "To this day I still don't know if I made the right choice. Those grandparents and their grandkids were all rescued and relocated to a different city because I made the decision to talk to the cops…but I lost my own parents as a result of that decision as well. I prayed and begged my parent's grave for forgiveness every night. The only thing that got me through was the adoption. I now had my blood and adopted family combined, and thanks to them I was able to keep living, though these thoughts have never left my mind."  
"Wait, how do you know for a fact that the Foot knew you were the one who went to the cops? How do you know it wasn't just a coincidence?" Donnie asked. He could sense that all of his brothers were growing as interested in this discussion as he was.  
"I'll admit, at first I really didn't know, but I had a strong hunch that I was the reason for my parent's deaths. It wasn't until two years later in 2008 when my suspicions were confirmed. I never knew it, but for those two years since that tragic night I was being watched by the Foot clan. They saw how weak I was at first, and then they saw how I was able to overcome what had happened thanks to my huge amounts of family support, and they decided I was the perfect pawn to take advantage of. They hunted me down one night and quote 'gave me the option' of joining them or not. They played mind games with me as they kindly told me that I didn't have to join them but that they highly advised for me to do so. I stood my ground and told them no and I hoped that that would be the end of my involvement with the Foot clan, but of course I made the wrong choice again. Days later, my adopted parents were attacked and murdered by the same soldiers who had contacted me that night. Those same soldiers snuck into my room in my own freaking house and asked me again to join them."  
By this point Jay was fighting to hold back tears.  
"How was I supposed to say no? Every decision I had made to fight back or to stay away resulted in the deaths of all four of my parents. I couldn't do it anymore. I gave up on fighting and running and decided to give in. What else could I have done? I was only 17 and I was alone. I thought joining the Foot and doing whatever they asked of me would save my siblings from experiencing the same fate, and once again I WAS WRONG!" Jay exclaimed as he punched the nearby wall.  
"What happened?" Mikey asked gently.  
Jay turned back to face him, tears in his eyes as he spoke.  
"I wasn't meeting expectations. I was leaving trainings early so that I could get home and take care of my family. For two years I was the third oldest out of all my siblings and I was needed to help keep food on the table and a roof over our head. Brian was in his senior year of high school and worked very minimal hours, so it was up to me and my older sisters to work our butts off and earn the amount of money we needed so that we could keep the parental rights to raising our younger siblings and not have everyone separated into different group homes. The only 'nice' parts of the Foot is that they help give you jobs and various career opportunities so that you can keep your cover and basically hide in plain sight. What they didn't expect was for me to need to work so many hours in order to help take care of my family. My boss was a Tokyo Foot clan member and he reported that I was leaving trainings early and missing out on mission calls so that I could work more to provide for my family. So what did Shredder do? He eliminated the problem…"  
Raph closed his eyes tight as he listened to this next part.  
"He…he…" Jay said, hysterically crying as he fought to make sure that he was still speaking words while sobbing, "He decided that I was spending too much time worrying about my family and that the problem needed to be taken care of. So he commanded some of his best soldiers to hunt down my family while we were hanging out at a nearby park. They shot Jamie and Nick to the point where they bled to death while they hid from the other soldiers, Haley was cut and also bled out due to no one treating her wounds, Amber was shot and died alone in the street, Brian was shot in the head and died within seconds, and then they slit Chuck's wrists, and there was nothing I could do about it! They all died and no matter what decisions I made and I was never able to protect them. I was knocked out and didn't even know about Brian and Chuck until the cops and paramedics showed up hours later. When they told me that everyone was dead, I was literally ready to just jump off the Brooklyn Bridge later that night. I was the reason that everyone in my family was killed, yet here I was walking around safe and sound. I couldn't do it, I wouldn't have been able to do it" he covered his mouth as he tried to somewhat calm himself down so that he wasn't shout-speaking anymore, and once he had collected himself he began to speak again.  
"The only thing that saved me that night was that Sam was still breathing. They put her unconscious body on a stretcher and they moved so fast that I didn't even get to ride in the ambulance with her. A policeman gave me a ride to the hospital and I just sat outside her room for hours and hours, waiting for a sign that she was okay. I wouldn't let the doctors take a look at me until I knew for sure that she was in a stable state. I couldn't leave her. I still wanted to die so badly but I knew that she would need me, and I literally needed her in order to live as well. Jesus and then that idiot tried to kill herself. She faked that she was sleeping and once the doctors left the room she tried to kill herself. She…she was the only one that I was able to save. That morning when I made her throw up the pills, that was the one time I was able to save any of them, and I vowed that day that I would do whatever it took to keep her out of harm's way and continue to protect her. I made sure to do whatever Shredder asked, even if it meant leaving Sam alone at home a lot. My actual job was through the clan and some nights I even told her that I was working when really I had to complete missions for Shredder. He was the reason I wasn't able to be with her this past anniversary and I knew that would crush her, but as long as she was alive and safe then that's all the mattered…but that all changed recently."  
"Wait hold up" Leo cut in. "If Sam knew all this, then why didn't she include that part of the story when she finally told this to us?"  
"She never knew" Donnie said softly.  
The remaining three brothers looked to Jay, questioning him if Donnie's theory was true, and they were answered as Jay nodded his head.  
"I never told her, hell I never told anyone. I never got a chance to tell my parents about the attack I had witnessed, and I was so afraid at the ages of 15 to 17 to tell anyone anything since I knew they would strike again if I ratted the clan out, so I kept everything to myself. My birth parents, my adopted parents, all my siblings including Sam until a month ago never knew any of this."  
"What happened a month ago?" Mikey asked.  
"Well…a few months ago it was discovered that Sam was hanging out with friends of April O'Neil's, so Shredder had people looking into who those friends were, and it was assumed that those friends were you guys. That ties back into why I couldn't be with Sam on the night of the anniversary. I was actually being held captive at headquarters all night, and Shredder was the one who forced me into agreeing to let you guys assist her in visiting the graves. I wanted to say no for safety reasons since I knew Shredder was looking for you guys and had an eye on Sam as well, but I was forced to say yes and that same night his soldiers spotted you all together from afar. A few nights later I overheard those same soldiers say that they were going to capture her and force her to spill what info she knew about you guys, and whether they killed her or not would depend on what information she would reveal. So that final night when I picked her up after seeing you guys, I told her everything that I just told you guys. I told her that I understood if she hated me and never wanted to see me again. I told her that I would risk my life in order to help her escape and get as far away from the city as I possibly could so that she would be safe from Shredder, regardless of how she felt about me."  
At this time Jay had begun lightly sobbing again.  
"But she wouldn't do it. That little shit wouldn't leave me alone. She kept telling me that it wasn't my fault and that I did what I thought was best for everyone. She said she didn't want to run away and rather she wanted to trick Shredder into thinking she wanted to help make the clan stronger."  
"So she willingly joined. She joined to protect both of you" Leo said in a pained voice.  
"Shit" Raph mumbled as he clenched his fists. He hated himself so much right now. If all of this was true then he had truly pushed Sam over the edge the night of the incident for no reason. He had antagonized her by calling her a liar when everything she had said was true, and there was more to the truth than he could have ever imagined.  
"Why didn't she just tell us where her mind was at then? We could have helped her if we had known what her plan was" Donnie said in an aggravated voice.  
Jay shook his head.  
"She didn't want to get you guys involved. She knew that you were trying to keep your new home a secret from Shredder and she also didn't want to risk losing any of you guys. She knows how strong and how skilled all of you are, but she would never forgive herself if something terrible happened to any of you because you went to help her. Once she joined the clan she learned that things were a million times worse than she could have ever imagined. In order to protect you, she's been playing dumb with Shredder. She openly admitted to knowing you, but she said that you only took her to your old home that was destroyed last year. She has yet to reveal any new information about you guys and she is actually prolonging giving any info away by volunteering to study as much as she can from the Foot so that she can fight you all herself. It's a lie she came up with to buy time so that she can get on Shredder's good side and then stab him in the back when the time is right."  
"GOD DAMNIT!" Mikey shouted as he also punched the wall. He didn't leave the room, but he walked over towards the eatery on the other side of the lair. Hearing that his friend had stayed loyal to them all along and to know that they had treated her the way they had was crushing his soul and he was fighting to remain as calm as he possibly could. He had treated his best friend like shit, and what was she doing? She was risking her life to protect him and his brothers.  
"She was also terrified of losing your trust," Jay continued.  
"How did she figure that?" April asked in confusion.  
"She said that you guys were all finally opening up to her and that you were even generous enough to say that she was like a sister to each of you, and she feared that if she said she had a reason for joining the Foot clan that all of you would go back to thinking she was a spy and that everything was a lie and that she couldn't be trusted. Because of this she took the risk of not telling you guys about her willingly joining the clan. She hoped that everything would be over quick enough that you would never know that she had aided the clan in any way at any time, but then that interferes with the final reason she joined: there's a rebellion forming and we're finally close to making our move."  
"What rebellion?" Leo asked with concern.  
"For the past four months A LOT of people have been discussing plans on how to bring down the main New York branch."  
"Why would Shredders troops want to take him down?" Raph asked.  
"Because more than half of his New York troops have been forced into the clan."  
"Including Irma?" April asked with sorrow.  
"Who?" Leo asked.  
"My friend at work, the reason I knew about Sam's past before any of you did. Every day since the butt dial incident I've tried to contact her and ask her more about Sam, but she's been out of work for a while now."  
Jay nodded his head. "She's a perfect example. Her son Kris ended up in a situation similar to mine. He was a lot younger when it happened though, so the soldiers knocked him out, took his wallet, and dragged his body back home. They told Irma and her daughter Brenda that they could both join the Foot clan and keep all three of their lives, or that the women would be spared at the expense of Kris's life. Obviously neither of them were going to let him die, so all three of them were forced into the group. Irma, Brenda, and Kris are some of the ones who are lucky enough to still get to live life by day and work for the Foot by night. There are countless examples of these type of people being forced into the Foot clan. The Tokyo branch is where the numerous numbers of loyal soldiers hide, and the New York branch is filled with people who are mostly tricked and forced to cooperate with Shredder's orders. But we've been carefully planning a rebellion for a long time now, and Sam wanted in on that in order to help protect her new family and also to avenge her original."  
"Does this rebellion have anything to do with the lack of Foot activity lately?" Splinter asked.  
"Yes. Shredder has been receiving countless amounts of mutagen. He has no idea where it's been coming from, but he's had his teams studying and experimenting with it. For weeks now he's had EVERYONE in the New York branch look into how to use these mutagens as weapons, as in hand held items and also mixing these chemicals with the human body. Sam knew how dangerous all this was and wanted to keep you guys as far away from these threats as she could."  
Leo sighed. "Is this why she was pushing us away the other night?"  
Jay shot the turtle a confused look. "What are you talking about?"  
"The other night Sam came back to the lair and stole some stuff that originally belonged to her. When I told her that night that it was the last chance she had to tell me the complete and honest truth, she lied and told me that she had been working for Shredder for a few years now, that Shredder knew where our home was and that he was packing up the clan and heading back to Japan, and that our friendship was all a farce and that she never saw any of us as her brothers."  
Jay's face scrunched up as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "Ahhh so that's what happened that night."  
"You didn't know?" Leo asked.  
"Well apparently you two were the only ones that did" Raph ridiculed since he and Donnie had bene left in the dark in regards to learning about this information.  
Leo turned towards his brother, frustration written all over his face. "We discussed this earlier. You and Donnie made it very clear that you weren't ready to search for Sam yet, so I kept this information between me and Mikey."  
"Do you enjoy lying to your brothers Leo?"  
"Would you rather me enjoy forcing you into situations that make you uncomfortable and make you explode? I mean hey you're the king at being a jerk to people aren't you Raph? You know better than any of us what it's like to push someone to their limits to the point that they almost killed you because of it" Leo stated harshly.  
Raph clenched his fists together and was about to speak when Mikey came back over and interrupted his two brothers.  
"Dudes enough! Stop arguing about the past and let's move forward already! You guys all wanted answers, right? Well you just got them! So stop fighting and let's go get Sam back!"  
"Are you kidding me?! She's made it clear that she wants to stay away from us for various reasons, and I'm still not so sure that I want to talk to her just yet!"  
"Are you serious?" Mikey questioned out loud. He then turned towards the third oldest. "Donnie, you've changed your mind, right?"  
Donnie sighed and gave his brother a solemn look. "Mikey, Sam made decisions for us that she shouldn't have. If she really wanted us to work together and for us to keep trusting her then she should have told us the truth from the beginning."  
Mikey's jaw dropped. "How… how could you? Sam is literally putting her life on the line to help keep us safe, and instead of rescuing her you guys just want to sit around and do nothing? Sam could die if one thing goes wrong at headquarters and we're not going to anything about it?! We abandoned her the night of the incident because we didn't understand her, yet when we finally understand we're going to continue to abandon her?! In our own ways we were ALL chasing her down just the other night so that we could figure out what the heck was going on! And Raph, you wanted to know about her eyes and…and…"  
Mikey turned towards Jay in a panic. "What was wrong with her eyes?"  
Jay bit his lip as if he was thinking about how to word what he was going to say next.  
"The first night of her initiation…Shredder needed a reason as to why he should let someone who might be seen as a threat work for him…so Sam volunteered to be a test subject for some of the new cases of mutagen that Shredder received that night."  
"Oh Samantha…" Splinter mumbled, his heart hurting for the girl and the situation she had gotten wrapped up in.  
"Luckily it didn't change her looks or anything, but it gave her incredible strength, hence why she was able to gain a leader's armband in such a short period of time. The mutagen for strength is what made her eyes blue, but she's also been studying another mutagen that's a whitish gel, that one she's been using to power her sleeve, but sometime it accidentally blends in with her skin. Luckily that one is also physically harmless, but now her pupils have a hint of white in them when her powers make her eye color change to blue."  
Mikey closed his eyes tight, trying to think of the positive facts (like that Sam was at least still alive and well) so that he wouldn't let his fuse burn out and him explode again like earlier. He just couldn't handle hearing all of this information about his best friend.  
Raph and Donnie felt the exact same way and they just needed to leave the room. Raph walked away and headed towards his bedroom. Donnie walked towards his lab nearby, but paused. He continued to face the direction of where his lab was located and he spoke to Jay in this position.  
"How did you figure out where our location was?" he asked.  
Jay figured this question was aimed at him. "I secretly took some of Sam's gear which included the camera detector. Eventually I came across a tunnel where a camera was detected, but the device stated that the camera was shut off. I started using that tunnel to find your lair, but that's when your dad found me."  
Everyone could sense that the wheels in the brainy turtles head were rapidly spinning around and around and soon after he was rushing out of the lair.  
"Well, I haven't talked to the Brainiac in a while, so I'll go calm him while you talk to the hot head?" April asked Splinter.  
The rat nodded his head and the two chased after the turtles who had left the room in worry that either might do something they'd regret later on.

Jay turned towards Mikey and gave him a small sincere smile.  
"Thank you."  
Mikey looked at him in confusion. "For what?"  
"For continuing to look out for my sister. You really saved her, and in ways that I and no one else could."  
"…hey Jay. When we first met Sam, Donnie found some footage of her from her school and she always seemed to be alone, and as we got closer to her she even said that she didn't have many friends at school. Why?"  
Jay pursed his lips together. "Because all the friends she had when she was younger, they were all members of the Foot clan."  
Both Mikey and Leo's eyes went wide once they heard this.  
"How is that possible?" Leo asked. "Wouldn't they have been as young as her? Since she was only 12 when you lost your siblings."  
"Like I said, A LOT of people have been forced into the Foot clan, and that includes huge numbers of young children. Some are basically raised in the clan and so many are practically brainwashed to think that serving Shredder is their true purpose in life. I know my sister meant a lot to you guys and each and every one of you means the world to her, and I didn't come here to beg you to forgive her or anything, but please…if you can, please help us tomorrow night."  
"The rebellion is tomorrow night?" Mikey asked with a gasp.  
"Yes. Tomorrow is the night. Thousands of people's lives will be on the line, including Sam's. All of her friends from her childhood were secretly members of the Foot clan for various reasons, and that's why she was always alone. They couldn't talk to her, not when they knew the truth behind why she kept losing the most important people in her life, and even after time had passed and they believed they could talk to her again without those jabs of guilt hurting them, Sam was already so far gone. She probably told you that no one ever wants to hang out with her, right? That was true for say 6 months, but it took such a toll on her emotionally that for years she still thinks that people don't want to be around her…but you saved her from that. You brought her back and made her smile and act silly in way I haven't seen in such a long time. If none of you want to come back and rescue her then fine, I understand since sadly she hurt you guys in ways she can't take back, I understand that more than anyone. But there are two reasons why I came here tonight. 1. Even if you don't help her, please try to find a way to get all those innocent civilians to safe refuge tomorrow night. If anyone can help save them then it's you guys. 2. I don't know what will happen to me or Sam tomorrow. I'll risk my life to keep her safe, and if that happens and I don't make it then I needed you guys to at least know the truth about all that has happened. I wouldn't be able to rest peacefully in my grave knowing that you guys still saw her as a traitor and-"  
"Dude stop" Mikey cut in. "You're not allowed to die, don't you get that? Even if Sam gave us a chance to talk to her again, she literally can't live without you. You have to live if you want Sam to survive after tomorrow night."  
Jay couldn't help but smile at the orange bearing turtle.  
"Thank you for caring so much about her. It means as much to me as it does to her. You all gave and brought back so much from the life that she lost and she loves the hell out of all of you. Oh! But if you ever see her again then you can't tell her I said that or else she'll kick my butt! And she can actually do that now" Jay said with a faint laugh. He then checked his watch and his laugh turned into a gasp as he saw what time it was.  
"Oh crap I need to go or else people will start wondering where I am. Anyway, if possible then please at least help make sure the innocent escape he building safely, and whatever happens between you and Sam is up to all of you after that. This rebellion is literally going to make a huge change within all of the city. Thank you for listening to me guys, I really appreciate it."

And with that Jay ran out of the lair, making sure to put his mask back on as he did so.  
Leo turned towards his brother and quickly spoke before Mikey could storm his way to his bedroom.  
"Mikey…give them some time, okay?"  
Michelangelo paused, and then continued on towards his room. He just couldn't believe his brothers right now. Sam needed them now more than ever and yet they were still pushing her away. But Mikey knew one thing for a fact, regardless of how his brothers felt by tomorrow night, he was going to save Sam, no matter what the cost.

 **OH MY GOSH YESSSSSS!  
I long for chapters like this where so much secrecy is revealed! Hopefully everything makes sense though. One of my biggest fears is that things won't make sense and that the details seem really choppy and all over the place. In books, movies, etc. some of my most favorite scenes are when the audience goes 'ohhhhh I get it! Everything makes sense now!' and hopefully that's how this chapter played out.**

 **I hope you guys are still enjoying the story and again any constructive criticism is always appreciated.**

 **Also, random fun fact: I recently started re-watching the 2012 cartoon series over again since I've never really taken the time to watch it full way through and in order and MAN HAVE I BEEN MISSING OUT! The voice cast is perfect and I love the type of comedy within the show and how it's a perfect mix of childish, but adults would laugh at the jokes and events that occur throughout the series as well. Can't wait for season 2!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #25

 ***Still Aug. 31** **st** **, later that night into the early morning*  
*Donnie's lab*  
Themes throughout the chapter:  
Skillet-Believe  
Skillet-Say Goodbye  
Skillet-Everything Turns Black  
Hurts-Stay**

Donnie rushed back into his lab and quickly sat down in his swivel chair. He had gained so much momentum that he had to cling to the desk so that the wheels didn't drag him to the other side of the room since he had sat down so fast. He was holding a small Lexar SD card in his hand and he was carefully but quickly inserting it into his computer. As soon as he had heard Jay say that he found their lair through the tunnel that they had rarely ever used then he had some suspicions. Once that suspicion entered his mind, he was off. He sprinted through the tunnels until he had reached the camera that was located in that tunnel way and just like the man had said, it was disabled. Donnie checked and discovered that the SD card was still inside the camera and he prayed that it was still in god condition. Now that he was in his lab and at his computer he was able to confirm that all the footage being held on the card was safe and in good quality. He pulled up files and files of weeks to months' worth of footage until he came across the very last file. It was just as he had thought, the last set of footage was from the incident with Sam earlier that month.

He paused for a moment, took a deep breath in, and then cupped his hands around his mouth as he slowly exhaled. He tried to make sure that he was calm before he played this video since he wasn't exactly sure what he would see. All the thoughts in his mind were still jumbled up after everything that Jay had told them mere hours ago and he knew that whatever he would watch now would just make his thoughts even more crazy and chaotic. But he needed to see this footage because it was this that would allow him to officially decide how he felt about this entire situation. He took one final long deep breath and clicked the play button.

The camera was placed at the end of the tunnel so that you could see the entire walk way rather than just one section, and after a couple of minutes of the reel starting, Sam appeared at the far end of the tunnel. As she sulked forward, Donnie could see that her eyes were still a bright blue shinning color. Donnie jumped when a huge unexpected gust of air flew out from Sam's sides even though she hadn't moved and was just standing there in the middle of the tunnel way. It was hard to hear and see at first, but whimpers could be heard from Sam as tears started streaming down her cheeks. She then clenched her hands into fists and started screaming as she started punching the walls.  
 _"Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?!"_ Sam started shouting. _"Why couldn't you just shut up and listen?!"  
_ It was obvious that her original expression was filled with nothing but anger and fury, but it gradually turned into an apologetic expression that was filled with regret. _  
"I could have killed you…I almost killed you…"_ Sam said as she then began to clutch her sides. She started shivering from fear. _  
"How could I do that…what have I done…"_ At this time Sam was still holding her sides but she was now leaning against the wall for support, almost like she would have collapsed to the floor if the wall hadn't been there to hold her up. _  
"Their faces…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"_ she repeated over and over again. That's all she said for the longest time as she sulked in her hunched over position along the wall. She continued to stay this way until something must have clicked in her mind and she suddenly went from apologetic to furious as she went back to clenching her fists. _  
"This is all your fault, you took my family away from me again!"_ Sam said as she went back to shouting. She was now pacing back and forth along the tunnel way as she continued to shout to herself.  
 _"First you steal my siblings parents, then my parents, then my siblings, and I FINALLY!"_ she said as she once again punched the wall _, "I FINALLY find people who make me happy again and give my life meaning and answer my prayers of asking my siblings to send me a sign that they're still watching over me and YOU TOOK THEM AWAY AGAIN! Screw you Shredder! You can't ruin my life anymore if I'm not here!"  
_ And that fast Sam ran towards the wall headfirst, bashing her head so hard that a loud smack sound came from the collision. Donnie's eyes went wide as he saw the girl lie on the ground with slight bleeding coming from her forehead. He sped up the footage to see what had happened to her next, terrified that something horrible could have happened to her while she lie there alone and unprotected. Within minutes he skimmed over four hours' worth of footage until her finally saw Sam get back up. She slowly and groggily raised herself into an upright sitting position. She leaned her back against the wall for support and laid her legs in front of her flat on the ground. It seemed that she was fighting to keep her eyes open, but after a few minutes she won as her eyes popped open wide. Donnie assumed that she was realizing all that had happened based on her reaction, and the next part was what hurt more than anything else he had seen.  
Sam pulled out her cell phone and her face sunk even more as she looked at the screen. Donnie wasn't sure what she was looking at since the camera angle only captured the back of the phone, but his thoughts were answered when he saw Sam bend her knees and pull them in and up to her chin and say _"Nothing. No messages. They didn't come for me…they aren't coming for me…I'm on my own again. I made the wrong choice and now NONE of them want me around anymore, not even him. I'm so sorry…"_ She then buried her face in her knees as she lightly sobbed. After a few minutes of this, Sam stood up and used her hands to dry her eyes, and she began to exit the tunnel. As she got closer and closer to the tunnel's exit, she finally realized that there had been a security camera filming her the entire time. She looked right into the lens and said _"Don't come after me, I don't deserve you guys anyway"_ and then the screen went blank. That was the last piece of footage both from that day and in general since Sam had shut down the camera as she said her last intended words for the turtles.

Donnie was so pissed that he stood up, picked up his swivel chair, and threw it against a small open space against the wall in the room.  
"You wanna talk about it?" April asked cautiously.  
Donnie turned back around to see April sitting on the bed in the far corner of the room and that the door was shut. How did she keep doing that? Were his emotions messing with his mind so much that he couldn't even sense another person entering his most secretive space (besides his bedroom that is)?  
"Not really, but I'm sure that's what you're supposed to do in this situation" he said as he put his hands on the back of his head, trying to compose himself and make sure that April never saw him react like that to anything ever again.  
"So, what part of the video caused that reaction?"  
Donnie blushed a bit. "You saw the video? How long have you been in here?"  
"Umm, well first yes I saw the video, and second, I've been sitting here since the video started playing. I've actually been trying to catch up to you ever since you rushed out of the lair earlier and this is where I finally caught up."  
"Why were you following me?"  
"I followed you and Splinter followed Raph. We had a feeling you two might need some company right now."  
Donnie sighed as he went to sit down, and then fell to the floor. April quickly stood up and walked over to Donnie as she bent over and reached her arm out.  
"You threw it against the wall, remember?"  
"Heh, right" he said as he blushed again while taking her hand and standing back up. "Um, to answer your original question about the awkward reaction…all of it."  
"The entire video set you off?" April asked as she sat on top of the lab table.  
"Pretty much. It's just…my mind is so hectic right now, and not in the 'stressed from cracking so many codes' type way like when I have a million projects to work on" he said as he walked over and set his chair back up and moved his seat closer to the table his friend was sitting on.  
"Okay, let's break it down piece by piece. How did you feel when you saw Sam punching walls and screaming in the beginning?"  
"Honestly, I thought I would want to think 'she deserves to act this way after what she did'…but I didn't. I wanted to reach out and tell her that it wasn't all her fault. I wanted to comfort her like when…"  
"When she used to be like family?" April cut in.  
Donnie didn't give a verbal response, but he nodded his head as his gaze faced the floor.  
"I should hate her, I want to hate her. Maybe it's everything that Jay said earlier today, since all of that made a lot more sense and everything he said sounded exactly like Sam, or at least it sounded like the Sam we once knew."  
"So basically you couldn't keep yourself from wanting to comfort her, almost like if you were comforting a sister?"  
"Yeah" the turtle mumbled.  
"Is that how you felt when you saw her crying? Or when you saw her yelling at Shredder?"  
"Actually, I wanted to tell her more than that. I felt the need to confront her and tell her that I understood her and that it wasn't her fault…but it is! I mean she hid information from us that obviously back fired and started this horrible situation in the first place! And even when she had chances to confess to us herself, she still ran away! Don't we mean more to her than that? Obviously we don't mean enough to her since she keeps telling us to stay away and since she keeps hiding from us."  
"Donnie…" April said gently, "didn't you see her crying? Didn't you see her apologizing for and questioning her actions? That plus everything Jay said about her covering for you guys, it's easy to see that she loves the hell out of all of you. Do you honestly believe anything you've been telling me, or are those the thoughts you think you should have?"  
"…I know it's what I think I should be thinking, but supporting her just seems wrong. I keep thinking about all the bad that's happened this past month, but then randomly hearing that she's been protecting us this entire time and then watching her reactions to that night in this video makes it seem like she's on our side again and it's just so confusing."  
"Then think about this. Mikey told me you guys were chasing her the other night. Why were you chasing after her if you think you should hate her so much?"  
Donnie paused for a good while before he finally spoke again. "I wanted answers and I wanted to know the truth. I wanted to know if things would ever go back to the way they used to be. I mean…in a way I never want them to go back to the way they used to be, but now knowing that Sam is really on our side…I just want to go back" he said as he pushed his glasses up and covered his eyes with his palms. He never expected Sam to make him feel emotional like this, or at all, when they all first met, and yet here he was trying to calm himself from getting upset at everything that had happened.  
"Is that how you felt at the end of the video? When she talked about no one coming after her."  
"That's the worst part," he said, fighting to remain calm but still letting out small choked sobs as he talked. "If Sam really is the person that this video shows her to be, and if everything Jay said was true, then we just abandoned out sister who's been loyal to us the entire time. We've been letting her deal with the Foot clan and Shredder and everything in between all by herself, and that's the thing, she didn't want to do everything alone. Jay said that she thought the rebellion would take place way sooner than it has, and she didn't want to lose our trust and so she did everything on her own, but she never wanted that. She probably wanted to tell us everything from the beginning but she thought that for everyone's sake it would be best to handle things on her own which is what she's been doing since her siblings died, but she never wanted that from the start. And then when a time came for us to back her up and listen, we pushed her away. And even after we did all that she's still protecting us! And knowing Shredder he's not taking that lightly! Every physical pain, every built up emotion in this video, I'm sure Shredder is constantly making her feel that every day times ten!"  
"So what is your gut telling you to do? You hate seeing her in pain, right? You want things to go back to the way they used to be, right? So what are you going to do about it?" April asked in a serious tone.  
Donnie removed his hands from his face and looked back up at April. He could sense what she was getting at and he realized that he finally knew what he wanted to do. After weeks of not understanding what was happening and going back and forth from knowing and not knowing what was true and not being able to differentiate what he felt from what he thought he should have felt, he finally came to a conclusion on what should happen next. Donnie stood up and for the first time displayed a harsh and rigid expression on his face. He clenched his fist together and shot April a sharp glare full of confidence. He wished he had known a lot of this information earlier, but whether it was true or not he wanted to believe that Sam was still the good hearted woman they had all come to know and love, and he was tired of waiting around for the next answer to come sneaking its way into his home. He wanted to hear everything from Sam herself, to see how she would react to seeing them and to have that be the official answer to all his questions and comments. He knew what needed to be done and he was finally ready to admit it.

"I'm going to go get Sam back" he said, and he rushed out the door so that he could try to convince his brothers to join him.

 ***A few minutes earlier, Raph's room***

Raph was pacing back and forth in his room. He wanted to beat the shit out of his punching bag…except he had used up all the bags just a few days ago. Chasing after Sam with Donnie nights previous had triggered his rage once again and within a few days of the event he went right back to his extreme and brutal workouts. Since currently there was nothing he could destroy, or at least nothing that wouldn't upset the rest of his family, he was trying to slow down his breathing as he paced back and forth in his room. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't heard Splinter knock multiple times and with no response slowly open up the door and peeked his head inside. Splinter watched as his son continued to walk back and forth over and over again.  
"Raphael…" he said softly.  
Raph still couldn't hear him as he continued to pace back and forth. Splinter entered the room and walked over to a spot that would cross his son's path. Raph turned around and almost jumped in shock at randomly seeing his father standing directly behind him.  
"Jeez dad. Knock much?" he asked, shaking his head to calm himself from the jump scare.  
"I did knock, three times to be exact" his father said. It wasn't a question, but Raph could tell by the way his father spoke that he was questioning his current behavior.  
"*sigh* I'm scared dad" Raph said as he sat down on his bed.  
"You're still afraid of Samantha hurting you?" Splinter asked in a confused tone.  
"No, I'm not scared of that anymore. I've come to terms with the fact that if I had treated her differently then maybe she wouldn't have become so violent. That's how it was when we first met her to" Raph said. He hadn't realized that as he said this last part that he had started looking off into space, losing himself in his thoughts as he remembered everything that had happened when Sam first came into their lives and noticing the similarities in those times verse how things were now.  
Splinter however picked up on his sons actions and tried to bring him back to the topic at hand.  
"So what exactly is it that you're afraid of then my son?" Splinter asked calmly.  
Raph closed his eyes for a few seconds, calming himself before he answered his father's question.  
"For the reason I just explained to you dad. I'm the reason she acted the way she did. If everything Jay told us was true, then that means Sam tried to explain what she was going through the night that we pushed her away. She reached out to us, to me, the one who in the room with her. And what did I do? I insulted her family right to her face." Raph then balled his fist as he firmly grasped at the bedsheets on his mattress. "And to make matters worse, I was so scared and pissed in the moment when she attacked me that night that during the weeks that followed I continued to blame her for what I had done wrong. Everyone thought that she had tried to hurt me for no reason, but I was the sole reason for my own pain, yet I continued to blame her. Why didn't I learn from when we first met her? I treated her like shit in the beginning and the only time she cooperated with us when Mikey was kind to her, so why the hell would I think treating her like shit would be the best route to take now?"  
Splinter hated to hear people curse, but he knew that now was not the time to complain about such habits. He could tell his son was hurting emotionally and that now was the time to be sympathetic rather than ridiculing.  
"A wise man once said: The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it" Splinter said as he smiled down at his son who was still sitting on the bed.  
Raphael shot his dad a bewildered look. "Come again?"  
Splinter let out a light chuckle. "It means that as one ages they will make mistakes, and after you learn how to prevent that mistake from happening again, you will then make even more mistakes."  
"So I need to make mistakes to gain wisdom? No offense Sensei but that sounds dumb" Raph huffed under his breath.  
The old rat chuckled again. "No my son, it means that each time you make a mistake you must learn something new from that experience. Based on the words of the metaphor, as the sand slips through the hourglass, the more clearly we can see the life lessons being taught through it. You will constantly make mistakes throughout your life, but it's up to you to gain experience and knowledge from each one and better yourself. Once you learn how to avoid your previous mistake, something from what you've learned will come up to create a new mistake. It's a cycle that will never end Raphael, and only you can decide whether you will learn from each mistake and become a better person based on what you've learned or not."  
Splinter then put his hand on his sons shoulder as he spoke to him sympathetically.  
"You've heard how Samantha felt that night and you know that even now after all that's happened she is still fighting to protect our family, and you know that you're part of the reason that she left in the first place. You have pushed her away twice now, so what will you learn from this experience? What will you do to fix this problem? What lessons is your hourglass of life telling you my son?" Raphael smiled up at his father while also glaring at him with confidence. He rose to his feet and cracked his neck to the side.  
"I've learned that I need to stop thinking the worst possible thoughts before getting to know someone. I need to communicate with them before reacting violently, both physically and verbally. I need to be more compassionate and wait to discuss things with my brothers rather than just come at my opponent by myself. And I know that I've been a jerk to Sam in the worst ways possible which has aided in her separation from our family, something that she didn't and still doesn't deserve. In order to fix this situation I'm going to convince my brothers that we should go after Sam and talk to her ourselves and judge the situation based on her own words and reactions." And before his father could say another word to him, Raph quickly exited his room and headed for the living room. *A few minutes earlier, the living room* Leo sat on the raised circular stand that covered the top of Splinter's room and through his meditation reflected on all that had happened that night. He'd be a liar if he said he didn't feel a bit relieved at hearing what Jay had to say. Of course there was still the off chance that Jay was in on a plot against them and that everything he said was a lie…but everything he had said sounded exactly like the Sam they had come to know.  
The details about her wanting to aide in the fall of the Foot matched the adrenaline filled mindset Sam had when she was going through rigorous trainings with the guys, and it sounded exactly like Sam when they were told that she could handle everything on her own in order to prevent the turtles from losing her trust and to prevent them from getting hurt. Ever since Sam had been allowed into the lair on a daily basis she had constantly tried to get closer to the guys and have them gain her trust, and multiple times she had made it known how much she cared for them and their well-being. Leo then thought back to the night that Donnie had pushed her away from the falling debris as they fought some Foot soldiers and how Sam wouldn't leave Donnie's side as she fought off any and all who tried to harm him. Apparently earlier that same day Sam had saved Donnie from falling to his death down an elevator shaft, and she had also helped knock out one of the mutants that was attacking Raph, AND she had even talked to the Mutanimals and because of this she knew how to get the larger of the mutant group to calm down and leave the turtles alone after cornering them. After all the times she had rescued them, was going that far just to a fake friendship? Sam was also JUST finally learning what it was like to be part of a family again and that she wasn't alone anymore, so Leo could easily believe that in a situation as crazy as this one that she would have converted back to her old ways and try to handle things by herself. Leo then added some logic to the equation. It was much more believable that Sam had said all those harsh things to him that night in order to push his family further away from her so that they wouldn't chase her down and try to rescue her from headquarters compared to what she had actually said. She had shared such personal and heartbreaking information with them and had shed so many tears with them the night of the anniversary, so it was difficult for him to believe that all those emotions were fake so that she could get closer to the turtles and gain information about them, especially when she had learned a lot about the guys but she had definitely shared many more stories and much more information about herself. Also, learning that Sam was lying about the turtles location and that she was covering for the guys for the past month, hence no Foot clan attacks in the sewers, made a lot more sense than Shredder moving all the NY clan members back to Tokyo. Learning about Shredders plan also made a lot more sense as to why there was no general Foot clan activity throughout the city. Leo then slowly opened his eyes as he continued to sit in his meditative position. He had just described so many details about Sam's emotional and physical state of mind which proved how much he had gotten to know the girl within the months that she had been visiting him and his family in the lair, and how did they all treat her after getting to know her? They kicked her out. After all she had shared with them, after showing how much she wanted to help protect them, and even after calling out to them the night of the incident and asking for help, they just left her all alone. As these thoughts began to wander through Leo's mind, he saw Mikey walking from the dojo and across the room to the exit way by the living room.  
"Mikey-"  
"You know," Mikey cut in as he was walking past Leo and then deadpanned and started ranting as he stood in place, using his hands as he spoke furiously, "I'm the only one who's been trying to figure out what was going on because I knew something wasn't right. No one else did anything but sulk and hide. And what did we learn? I was right the entire time, and do you know what that means? It-"  
"It means that Sam called out for help and we ignored her and pushed her away to the point where she was suffering all alone again."  
Leo and Mikey turned their eyes towards Donatello who had just stepped out of his lab and was walking over towards where his brothers were.  
"I just watched video footage of how Sam reacted to the events from that night."  
"What?" Mikey asked lightly, his expression instantly switching from furious to concerned.  
Donnie nodded. "I found the tunnel that Sam left through that night, it was the same one Jay used to sneak into our home. The camera at the end of that tunnel had footage of how Sam reacted to the incident that night, and let's just say it says a lot about how she really does hate what happened that night and that she truly does care about us."  
"I want to-"  
"No you don't" Donnie said as he cut of his younger brother. "You don't want to see it."  
"Donnie I WANT-"  
"I threw a chair at the wall" Donnie said as he pursed his lips together. "I've never reacted that way to anything, but that's the only way I could respond to what I saw. So trust me when I say that you don't want to see it."  
Mikey was silent, but he nodded his head.  
"There's only one way to fix this," Raph said as he entered the room to Donnie's right and the other two's left where the bedrooms were located, "we need to hear all this from Sam herself. What her intentions were, why she did what she did, everything." Raph then turned towards his youngest brother and gave him an apologetic look. "And this time we'll listen, all of us."  
Mikey could tell that Raph was singling himself out in the fact that it was him who truly needed to listen and that he was ready to own up to and fix his mistake in how he treated Sam that night.  
Mikey's jaw then dropped slightly as he realized what all his brothers were getting at.  
"Wait…you guys don't mean…"  
"You know, you need to learn to listen" Leo said with a small smile as he glared at his brother in confidence, just like Raph and Donnie were doing as well. "I was going to tell you the same thing, but it looks like I was beaten to it thanks to your outburst. So, who's ready to create a revenge plan against Shredder and bring Sam back?" Mikey had no words to say. He was overjoyed that his brothers were finally looking at the situation the same way he had been. It took them all awhile, but now everyone was on the same page. If he ever got to meet him again then Mikey knew he would have to thank Jay for aiding in getting his brothers to finally come to the conclusion that Sam was still the same girl they had all come to know and love and that she needed their help, something she had been asking for from the beginning. It was much more believable that Sam had said all those harsh things to him that night in order to push his family further away from her so that they wouldn't chase her down and try to rescue her from headquarters than what she had actually said. She had shared such personal and heartbreaking information with them and had shed so many tears with them the night of the anniversary, so it was difficult for him to believe that all those emotions were fake so that she could get closer to him and his brothers. For now though, Mikey just smiled and glared with confidence in the same way his brothers had been as they all gathered up and began plotting how they were going to save both Sam and the entire city and how they would participate in the fall of the Foot clan later that night.

 **Sorry I know this is one of my smaller chapters, but I wanted to keep it separate from the next one since it should be really long. There's going to be a lot of important and dramatic and exciting events coming up and I wanted to keep this part separate from that. But I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far and that you'll be excited for what comes next. I apologize if the update is late though since I'll be going on a family vacation very soon, but don't worry I'll make sure that it's up before the end of this month! God I hope it doesn't take that long for me to get the next update ready, but sometimes life is crazy -_-**

 **But don't worry I already know what is going to happen, it's just finding the time to get everything typed up and making sure everything makes sense. But again I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far and I can't wait to show you what's in store for these guys :3**


	26. Chapter 26

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #26

 ***Monday September 31** **st** **, 7:30p.m.***

The turtles were sneaking around throughout the city streets, looking for any one lone member of the Purple Dragons. They hated how long they needed to wait, but they couldn't go out until it was dark enough and finally they felt that they would be safe enough to hide within the shadows. After searching for a while, Raph finally spotted a man with the Purple Dragons tattoo walking down an alley with a few other guys. The group of men said something amongst each other and then parted ways, and that's when it was time for the turtles to attack.

They all nodded in agreement of the plan and they moved swiftly down towards the ground. The man was clueless when a large green hand grab him and pulled him into the shadows of the alleyway he was walking by. He tried to yell, but Raph's hand muffled his voice. Leo and Donnie patted down his pockets until they felt and pulled out the walkie talkie from his jacket pocket.  
"Mikey was this it?" Donnie asked.  
"Yeah, it looked like that."  
As soon as the man saw Michelangelo he truly began to panic, squirming as much as he could (which was barely at all) within Raph's grasp.  
It took him a second, but Mikey recognized the face that was in front of him.  
"Ohhhh hey guys, this was the guy I ran into the other day. Let me talk to him, kay?"  
The three brothers looked at each other and shrugged.  
Mikey walked over and shot the man an evil smile.  
"Heyyyy buddy, remember me? I'm the guy you and your crew pissed off the other day. You're a horrible liar and didn't follow through on our deal, so I'm gonna take this okay?" he said deviously as he held up the walkie talkie and crushed it in his hands. "You're not going to use this anymore okay? And you see your legs? You better talk or else I'm going to break them as well, got it?"  
The man shivered as he nodded his head.  
Raph lifted his hand away from the man's face slowly in case he decided to start screaming and blow their cover, but he remained quiet which shocked the other three who had never seen Mikey talk or act in such a way, and to them it was a bit scary how easily he could snap. " _Has he always been able to do this?"_ they thought to themselves as they continued to watch him interact with the man.  
"Okay, okay. I'll do whatever you want, just don't kill me" the man begged.  
"Pshh, we're not going to kill you, but we will find more brutal ways of making you talk" Mikey said with a sly grin as he nodded his head and cracked his knuckles.  
"Alright, what do you want from me?"  
"What is Shredder planning? What is happening tonight that is such a big deal?"  
"Ummmm okay so Shredder has been getting these shipments of mutagen, I swear I don't know who from no one does, but he's been having the brainiac's of the clan use the mutagen to make weapons. From what I know those weapons are all ready to be used and will be used to attack people on the streets at 10p.m. tonight. They plan on stealing money, electronic devices, weapons, whatever they think they need to make their clan stronger. Ummmmm all his non-fighters will be locked up in cells in about half an hour, if that means anything. That and anyone who tries to stop him will be killed OR will be forced into a position in the clan that Shredder deems fit, but that's obvious. Look that's all I know okay I swear! I'm only a Dragon so I only know a little bit. Hell we are used to bring in the shipments but then we don't even get a mutagen weapon, not even tonight when everyone gets one. It's messed up I tell ya."  
"What did you expect? You're working for Shredder!" Raph cut in.  
"But we were promised money, women, power! And we're all still waiting for that!"  
Raph shoved the man into the wall so fast that the man couldn't even react and that fast was back to being held in Raph's strong grip.  
"Bastard, you don't deserve any of those things just for being so greedy that you made the worst decision in the world and joined the dumbest gang ever" Raph said as he rolled his eyes.  
"Why is Shredder doing this? What will he gain from taking over the entire city and forcing people into his clan?" Leo asked.  
"I don't know all the details, but I've heard it has something to do with avenging his older brother, Oroku Nagi. Some guy named Yoshi wronged him or something in the past and Shredder aka Oroku Saki has been fighting to avenge him ever since."  
"Well this is new information" Donnie stated. "Sachs never mentioned that to us when he told us his plan months ago when he captured us."  
"It either wasn't that important, or Shredder didn't want us to know what his weaknesses were, and his older brother might be one of them. But we need one last piece of information" Leo said as he looked back over at the man in Raph's arms, "where are the Foot's current headquarters located?"  
"Birchwood St. It's the tallest building, 15 floors to be exact, and it's right across the street from a parking garage that's only a couple of floors less."  
The turtles all looked at each other and nodded. Raph clung tighter to the man as Donnie pulled out some bandage wraps from one of his pouches and used them to cover the man's eyes and mouth. The guys traveled quickly by foot since luckily they weren't far away from where headquarters was said to be. Raph had practically dragged the man along with him and once the group reached their destination down below, they hid in a nearby alley. Raph dropped the man on the ground and nothing could be heard except the creaking of a dumpster. The man tried screaming, but his sounds were muffled through the bandage wraps. He then sat quickly as he sensed a presence right by his ears.  
"Don't worry, no one will hurt you. But we're going to leave you here so in case you're lying to us, no one will ever find you either" Raph whispered.  
The man began to make noises again, but they were quickly cut off as the turtles flipped the dumpster over so that the man was now inside the dumpster as it lay upside down on the ground.  
"Uh guys, we may have an issue" Donnie announced. None of them realized that as soon as the dumpster was planted back on the ground he had pulled out multiple devices that he was now using to scan for all types of cameras nearby.  
"What's wrong?" Leo asked.  
"There's cameras."  
"No shit!" Raph said before being slapped by his older brother.  
"Well, yeah. We expected that" Leo stated to Donnie, a bit confused as to why his brother was so worried since he had knocked out and altered cameras thousands of times before tonight.  
"I mean that there's a ton more cameras than usual. This definitely has to be the right place based on that alone, that or their cover up building is doing a really good job at faking it. Regardless, it will take forever to enter the building and try to find out since it's going to take a long time to fix all these cameras."  
"Are there any obvious ones?" Raph asked.  
Donnie looked across his screens and quickly noticed a pattern.  
"More than half of them have red dots. If you look up carefully then you can see a few of them on the roof above us. Why do you ask?"  
"You still have that device you used to communicate with that cockroach?"  
"…yeah?"  
"Good stuff" Raph said as he then brought his finger and thumb to his mouth and whistled loudly. His brothers watched him with muddled faces as they wondered why he was just staring up at the sky like he was just waiting for something to magically appear. He then randomly started smiling as he continued to look up into the sky.  
"Donnie, animal talking device" Raph announced as he held his hand out.  
At first Donnie was reluctant to follow his brother's order, but he soon saw a pigeon flying down from above, and out of curiosity he decided to reach into his pack and hand his older brother the device.  
Raph then held his arm out as the pigeon gently landed on it and softly cooed when the large turtle used his finger to gently pet and stroke the top of the birds head.  
"Hey little guy, remember me?" Raph asked with a gentle smile. He then went to put the small head piece on the bird. The pigeon then started to hop to the side some, almost looking frightened, if pigeons could display that emotion.  
"Hey now, you know I would never hurt you, right little guy?" Raph asked as he gently pet the bird again. The other three turtles could have sworn they saw the pigeon make a happy face of some sort and it kind of freaked them out since they didn't know how a bird could really do this. They then watched carefully as Raph slowly put the head piece on the bird.  
"Alright little guy, spin around in a circle if you can understand what I'm telling you."  
Jaws dropped as the bird then hopped around in a circle on the turtles arm and then faced him once he was done doing so.  
"Ahhhh I knew it! Way to go little guy. Now I need your help alright? See all those lights up above? Those are from cameras and those cameras belong to men who want to hurt my brothers and I. You think you and your buddies can cover all those red dots for me?"  
The pigeon blinked a few times at Raph and then flew off.  
"Donnie start working on all the cameras that don't have red lights" Raph instructed.  
Donnie nodded his head and got to work as quickly as he could. He could hear his youngest brother 'ohhh' and 'whoa'-ing as hordes of pigeons circled around and blocked the view from the cameras with red lights, one by one making each one obsolete in a sense, and by the time they covered the last blinking camera, Donnie had just finished messing with the last of the other various cameras and devices set up around headquarters.  
"Everything is done and we're free to move forward!"  
"Well, wasn't expecting that" Mikey said with wide eyes, still in shock from what he just saw his usually hot headed brother do. He continued to stare at his brother this way as the original pigeon returned to Raph's arm.  
"Raph, a few months ago there was an article about a large man who was spotted wondering around parks at night and being surrounded by animals, usually pigeons. Was that you?" Leo asked teasingly with a grin.  
"What I do in my spare time is my business, okay?" Raph said in a low tone as he heard his younger two brother's chuckle from behind him. He pet the bird and whispered "thanks little guy" as he carefully removed the head piece from the bird and then handed it to Donnie as the bird cooed and flew away.

Now that all nearby cameras had been tampered with, the boys then ran across the street and got out their climbing claws as they began scaling the building next door to headquarters. After a few minutes they reached the top. It was a couple stories shorter than the headquarters building, so they launched their grappling hooks towards the roof of the taller building and once they each hooked onto a stable base the boys began climbing their way up. Mikey would have used his skateboard and glided up, but that could have been noisy and wasn't worth the risk, so this time he joined his brothers in taking the slower but safer way to travel.  
Once they reached the top of the headquarters building Leo spotted a vent that curved up and out. He silently lifted off the cover and looked down inside. It seemed to go straight down and eventually curve inward which meant that it lead to other vent ways they could climb through.  
"Alright guys, we don't know a whole lot about what's going on tonight. Because of this, we're going to travel around through the vents for a bit and try to gain some intel. Keeps you phones SILENT, but still close so that we can communicate with each other in case we hear any important information. Ready?" Leo asked.  
The remaining three brothers nodded in agreement and once everyone had placed their shell cell in a safe and accessible spot, they each followed behind Leo as they leaped into and down through the vent tunnelway.

They expected to slow down towards the bottom (of course they wouldn't have just landed with a loud thud at the bottom of the drop) and use the sides of the vent to slow down, but when they put their arms out they felt nothing, and what was worse was that as they came closer to the bottom, the bottom never came. Leo thought he was about to come crashing down on the bottom of the vent, but instead he fell right through, and all his brothers continued to fall as well. After the turtles had finished crashing to the ground and were now finally able to notice their surroundings, they realized that they were standing in the middle of one of the hallways of the building with numerous Foot soldiers watching their every move.  
"You have got to be kidding me" Raph growled. He was mind blown by the fact that they had just entered the building and already they were hostages. How the heck had this even happened?!  
"Drop your weapons and we won't fight, for now at least" one of the numerous masked faces called out.  
Leo so badly didn't want to give in so soon, hell they had literally just got here, but he knew there were way too many soldiers for them to fight in this tiny little hallway. There wasn't really anything they could use to disperse, and a smoke bomb would lead to them jumping into another large group of soldiers. As much as he hated it, he knew that a momentary surrender was the safest move. Leo threw his weapons down onto the ground, and soon after his brothers followed his actions. The soldiers then forced their hostages to get on their knees with their hands behind their backs as the turtles were handcuffed with electronic cuffs. Too much movement caused them to send a nonlife threatening but still uncomfortable shock throughout the victim's body and they were extremely uncomfortable to begin with. There were no chains since the middle part was solid and stretched from one hand to the other. The boys were then told to stand up as they were lead to a cell nearby. 4 soldiers stayed with the turtles and continued to give commands as the turtles were forced to kneel on the ground and wait patiently for what was to come next. The turtles kneeled in a line within the cell with Mikey towards the far left wall, Leo next to him, Raph next to him, and then Donnie on the end near the right wall. They were placed on the right side of the room which left the entire left and middle sections of the room wide open.  
It wasn't much longer until the door opened once again. Two people entered the room at that time: the first was Karai who looked more pissed off than ever, and the second was Sam. The turtles fought to remain calm when they saw the girl enter the room right behind their enemy. They didn't want to show any emotion and this somehow get Sam in trouble, and they hoped that that was why Sam seemed to bear the exact same expression on her face as she entered the room.  
Karai stepped to the side as she began to talk to and question Sam.  
"Explain this" Karai barked, arms crossed over her chest as she nodded down towards the turtles.  
"…explain what?" Sam asked in an unconcerned tone.  
"Why are they here?" Karai asked, her tone getting harsher and harsher as the two conversed.  
"I don't know" Sam groaned. "I'm not the last one who spoke to them."  
"You're the second to last from what we know of."  
"So ask the last guy."  
"We can't find the last guy."  
"Well it's not my fault you suck at your job" Sam said in a derogatory manner.  
As Sam spoke she made sure to look everywhere that wasn't at the turtles. She faced Karai, rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, groaned and would look down at the floor, anywhere that would cut off her eye sight from the turtles. One good look at them would instantly throw off her tough act and her emotions would kick in and ruin everything she had built herself up to handle.  
"Regardless," Karai began, "Sensei will not be pleased with this and you will be the one to blame. You're lucky that our scientists were able to create the hologram device that tricked them into falling from the vents."  
This explained what the heck happened moments ago and why the turtles had gone from sneaky and strategic to free falling and becoming hostages.  
"Funny. You take technology that isn't yours and know where that is, but you can't locate one man. The Foot really need to get their priorities straight" Sam mocked.  
"ENOUGH! Are you on our side or not?"  
"Duh" Sam said bluntly, holding her hands out as if she was confused as to how the woman could ask her such a thing.  
"Prove it" Karai demanded.  
Sam rolled her eyes as she took a step towards Raph. Before anyone could react, Sam's eyes went blue as she kicked her leg back and used her heel to jab Raphael in the side where the skin between his shell and plastron was located. He fell to the side a bit and fought not to make a big deal out of the hit, but he couldn't help but let out a short and low volume groan. This was one of the most sensitive spots on both his and all of his brother's bodies and even though the pain would subside after a couple of minutes it still stung like hell right now. Sam immediately took a step away from Raph as soon as she landed the kick. Karai nodded in approval at Sam's annoyed face that was made to question whether her actions were good enough.  
The turtles all looked at Sam and each hoped that this was all still part of her plan to fool Shredder into thinking she was truly on her side. They could tell by the way that she spoke that she definitely did not like Karai (then again, who did?) but that wasn't enough to convince them that she was truly on their side and putting on a show for the others like Jay had told them.  
Karai grew a small but devilish smile on her face. "Perfect! Since you're still working with us to rid the world of the turtles, then you won't have any problems watching us test one of our new weapons on them."  
Karai then signaled for one of the soldiers to come forward. In the masked man's hand was a whip, but before he could do anything Sam slapped the weapon out of his hands. Karai's first reaction was to go for her sword, but Sam instantly calmed her down.  
"Oh relax! Your daddy gave me clearance to be the one to take them out, so that's what I'm going to do. Jeez" Sam stated.  
Karai glared at her. "Do not diminish the role of the Shredder with such childish terms."  
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for not referring to him as the great and almighty Shredder, alright?" Sam mocked.  
Karai rolled her eyes. "Just hurry up. Attack the blue one first since he's the leader."  
"Eh, nahhh" Sam said.  
"NO?" Karai furiously asked.  
"I'll take the orange one. He's the youngest and they can't stand to see him get hurt." Sam emphasized the last few words of her sentence as she then turned around and practiced cracking the whip forward. This revealed that the weapon was actually an electric whip. Sparks flew from the whip as it smacked against the far opposite wall. The whip was so powerful that Sam had to grab onto her right arm as her hand tightly gripped the handle so that it wouldn't go flying out of her hands.  
Karai nodded, stating her approval of what the younger girl had said. She took a few steps back and waited for Sam to complete the deed.  
Sam walked over and stood in front of Michelangelo. From the time she had entered the room, this was the first time that she had actually looked at any of the turtles. She faced Mikey and looked him straight in the eyes. She wasn't expecting it, but he had already been doing just that by the time she had turned her head to look at him. His sight was already in line with where hers would be, and now that she was standing in place, the two were unintentionally glaring at each other. No one knew it, and maybe the other hadn't either, but their glares were supposed to signal to the other that they wanted trust/were trusting the other.  
Sam finally took a step forward and cracked the whip. The tip of the weapon was aimed perfectly so that it would nail Mikey right between the eyes, but the final blow never came. Within a split second of the whip being cracked it had somehow become frozen. The end of the whip, almost just touching Mikey's face, was frozen solid and was no longer usable as it stayed still in one position, no longer able to move now that it was covered in ice from the tip of the whip all the way down to the handle grips right under Sam's fingers. The entire time this was happening Sam and Mikey had never broken eye contact. The two were still glaring each other down, one set of eyes staring directly into the other, and it would have stayed this way if Karai hadn't interrupted them.  
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Karai shouted.  
Sam finally broke eye contact as her serious gaze quickly transformed into a dull stare as she now faced Karai. "I don't know what happened. It was probably another interference from the human trials from my first day here. Sometimes the mutagen from day one comes back and randomly malfunctions" Sam said with a shrug of her shoulders. Her posture gave off an obvious 'I don't care' type attitude, and Karai picked up on this instantly.  
"Sensei will be quite displeased once he hears of this, are you ready to face that type of punishment again?" Karai growled as she glared at the younger woman.  
"Geez Karai, you really need to learn to control your temper" Sam said as she crossed her arms and shook her head in a ways as to mock the other woman.  
"Some people tell me I have a short temper, but I prefer to call it a swift and assertive reaction to BULLSHIT."  
"Sorry but giving a fuck doesn't go with my outfit" Sam said with a shrug. It was obvious she was dodging Karai's threats, but her tactic did work at re-directing Karai away from her suspicions of Sam helping the turtles on purpose.  
Over time, Karai had gotten better at reacting to Sam with her own sarcastic and nasty remarks since this was really the only way the two really knew how to communicate with each other. "Look, I don't have the energy to pretend to like you today. So leave, since nothing brightens up a room like your absence" the older woman said with a wicked smile.  
"It's okay, not everybody has to like me, I can't force you to have good taste."  
"I saw a piece of shit on the ground today, it reminded me of you."  
"If you listen closely then you can hear me not caring."  
"I would slap you but shit splatters. God, if you ran like your mouth than you'd be in much better shape."  
"Oh please, you only have one advantage over me: that you can kiss my ass and I can't."  
Karai shook her head. "It's so disappointing that your sarcastic remarks are the only thing you have going for you."  
"Well hey, I do love sarcasm! It's like punching people in the face but with words."  
"Hmph, well they do say that actions speak louder than words."  
And with that Karai lunged towards Sam. Of course Sam had been expecting this at any time since this was her plan from the beginning. Karai's suspicions of Sam's loyalty to the Foot grew after she protected Mikey, so Sam purposefully had tried to annoy and argue with Karai to the point that she forgot about those suspicions and became more focused on a physical conflict. Sam also knew that Karai would be flustered if she lost and would leave the room either with or without Sam, and this was the goal that Sam was aiming for.  
The boys sat in silence as they tried not to react as they saw the two women fight each other. Each turtle wanted to jump in and help their friend so bad, but they trusted that this was part of her plan and any sign of emotion would ruin whatever tricks Sam had hiding up her sleeve.  
The other four Foot soldiers just stood there as well. They had their weapons in hand and seemed ready to strike at any moment, but the two women moved so fast around the room that they didn't want to risk the chance of hurting their master, so they too sat on the sidelines behind the turtles and watched. After a couple of minutes or so the dual finally came to an end with Karai holding a kunai knife right by Sam's neck.  
"Any last words?" Karai asked viciously with a devilish grin.  
Sam looked up the woman with the exact same expression and tone of voice. "It's a shame you never got that crack in your armor fixed" Sam replied.  
Karai's grin quickly faded as she realized what was happening.

It took the turtles a second to understand as well. They looked closely until they saw where Sam's left hand was. She was also holding a kunai knife but this time the blade was pointing towards the lower right half of Karai's abdomen. From afar it looked as if Sam was aiming straight for the woman's armor, which wouldn't have made sense since it would have required a huge amount of strength to pierce the knife through that barrier, and even though Sam now had the strength to possibly do such a thing, her hand was too close to its target to create the force and momentum to complete that objective. However, a closer up point of view showed that there was a crack in Karai's armor that was large enough for the knife to fit. Sam had proven that she had studied her target well, and Karai knew that at this moment she and her opponent were now both evenly matched. She nodded her head and then Sam did the same as the two both backed away from each other. Of course, Karai couldn't just leave without getting her message across, so she quickly threw a punch at Sam's cheek before the space between them grew too large. Sam could easily have dodged the punch, but that would defeat the purpose of all she had done. Her objective was to make Karai leave the room and dodging the punch and therefore continuing the fight would have been the opposite of her objective, so she allowed Karai to follow through with her attack. Sam had experienced physical pains ten times greater than this one, but in the moment it still stung like hell.  
The punch was so swift and solid that it made Sam's entire body turn with it. She was able to keep her balance and prevent herself from falling to the floor, but her body was now turned towards Mikey, and if her eyes were open, she would have been looking right at him. Sam knew this and fought to keep her eyes closed as she slowly turned back towards Karai. She refused to open her eyes until she was finally standing forward and tall once again.

As Sam opened her eyes she saw Karai glaring at her once again.  
"We have waited a long time for this night, and I will not allow you to be the reason that we all lose everything that we have worked for, what our master has worked for. You wear the uniform that many for centuries have dedicated their lives to, so HONOR IT. If you continue to screw things up for us then we'll make sure you live, but you'll see everybody else parish, all thanks to your antics. That's what happened to all your siblings, remember? Your brother couldn't listen, so we had to put him in his place. Don't think it won't happen again." Karai waited for a response, but Sam just stood there and glared back at her. This signaled to Karai that she had struck a nerve and that the younger female was going to remain silent rather than fight back. Karai then turned toward the four soldiers. "Watch over her and the hostages. Don't let any of them leave this room. We have a busy night tonight and these five will be the most likely ones to ruin everything we've worked for, so guard them with your lives." These were her last words before she turned around and walked out of the room.

There were only a few seconds of silence left in the room until it was interrupted by a scratchy voice saying ' _ALL CLEAR_ '. Suddenly, two of the soldiers quickly knocked out the other two as Sam ran up, and with her eyes quickly turning blue, jumped up and yanked down a vent cover on the ceiling. The two conscious soldiers behind the turtles removed their masks as four more boys leaped down from the vent ways above.  
"Whew, well that was dramatic" said one of the now mask-less faces. The turtles quickly turned their heads back and forth as they recognized some of the faces in front of and behind them. The face that had just spoke was from an Asian boy that they remembered as Key, and the Asian boy next to him was Kris. The turtles remembered these two from Sam's soccer games that they had watched, and from those they also recognized Nathan, the white skinned and brown haired boy who was one of the four who had jumped down from the vent. The remaining three boys didn't look familiar. The first boy had black skin with short black hair, the second boy had light tan skin with brown and black colored hair that was pushed back off his forehead and Asian facial features, and the third boy had white skin with orange and brown colored hair that was also pushed back of his forehead. These four quickly ran behind the turtles and started fidgeting around with the locks on their arms as the two who were dressed as soldiers ran and were now guarding the door.  
"Yeah but it was all necessary for the plan" Sam replied.  
"And that was?" asked Kris.  
"To get Karai to ignore her suspicions of my loyalty to the Foot and to leave the room."  
"Ahhh so that's why you let her punch you. She would have kept fighting if you dodged her" said the tallest and lightest skinned boy.  
"Yes! Thank you Brad!" Sam said as she pointed her finger towards the boy and smiled. The turtles tried to take in the names and faces of these supposed allies in case this info would be needed later for whatever reason.  
"Alright," Sam began, "someone give me a run-down of what's going on-nghh." Sam quickly grabbed her wrist, instantly grabbing everyone in the room's attention.  
The boy with black skin and shorter hair ran over and looked at Sam's arm.  
"Is this from the mutagen?" he asked.  
"Yeah, I lied about the human trials. I took a sample from the wrist compartment of my sleeve, you know my most recent addition" she said as she showed him a round section that traveled all the way around her wrist, "I've basically saved small doses of all different types of mutagen that my body can handle and have stored them here and obviously this time I used one that could freeze other objects."  
"Let me see the sample" the boy said as he opened his hand in front of her.  
Sam opened up the compartment on her sleeve and handed the boy a small vile of a light blue colored mutagen.  
"How many of these did you take?" he asked.  
"Three" she mumbled.  
The boy leaned his head back in frustration. "Geez Sam you have got to be more careful. You were with me when we studied this type and you know that larger doses can be extremely dangerous!"  
"Okay Josh I get it" Sam said as she rolled her eyes, still holding her right arm. "Look I had to be extra cautious this time and I needed to take precaution in knowing that it would work quickly when I needed it to, okay?" Sam then looked towards the ground as a slight blush came across her face. Leo, Raph, and Don were focusing on the name that went the face of the boy talking to Sam, so only Mikey had noticed this blush that quickly spread along the girls face.  
"Kevin do you know how long this should affect her?" Josh said as he turned towards the lightly tan skinned boy.  
"About 5 minutes max since she was a match for that mutagen" Kevin replied.  
"Alright then," Sam cut in, "then I'm going to disappear for those five minutes until I can feel my arm again."  
"Sam wait-" Mikey said.  
"Make sure you help these four out-" Sam said as she began to turn away.  
"Sam wait up!"  
"-and give them a run-down of what they don't already know." Sam had now reached the doorway and slammed the door shut as Mikey had just been released from his electronic handcuffs and had just rushed over to where she was standing, but not in time to catch her before she left and was now on the other side of the closed door.  
"Sam, Sam!" he said as he banged on the door.  
"Sorry man, she can't hear you. These rooms are sound proof" Josh said with a sorrowful expression.  
By this time all the handcuffs had been unlocked and the brothers were now standing on their own, rubbing their wrists which had been bound for so long now.  
Kris and Key walked back over to the guys as they began pulling weapons from the back packs that were secured tightly behind them.  
"I believe these are yours" Key said with a smile as he handed Raph and Mikey their weapons while Kris handed Leo and Donnie theirs.  
"Thank you" Leo said with a nod. "Now can you guys please update us on what is going on?"  
Kris then took the floor as everyone listened patiently.  
"It's about 8:15 now which means that Dragons and soldiers have been leading any and all non-fighters, so doctors, scientists, anyone whose job doesn't involve them to fight in anyway, they're all being locked up in cells similar to this one as we speak. The majority of the Dragons and Foot soldiers will be on the bottom floors getting their weapons set up and guarding the Mutanimals-"  
"Wait I thought we helped free those guys!" Raph confusedly cut in.  
Kris gave him an unfortunate expression. "Sadly Shredder had more soldiers from Japan coming in that night. The plan you all set up was genius, but the night just happened to be extremely unlucky."  
"I bet they paid for that" Leo said with his eyes closed tight, trying to fight off any painful images of what the other mutants had to deal with after their attempted escape.

Kris sent him a small smile. "Don't worry, they're tough, every single one of them. And if you really want to help them then you'll help set them free again tonight. Right now they're all wearing collars around their necks that can harm them in various ways if they don't listen to the soldiers and the Dragons. The Mutanimals are going to be forced into destroying the city along with their masters as part of Shredder's plan. Meanwhile, select soldiers will be on lookout positions and guard the cells while the rest of the clan is attacking the city. Those loyal soldiers will be attacked by our rebel soldiers who will then set up devices along the lock boxes outside each cell door. Multiple scientists who are being locked away have devices that will detonate those devices so that they destroy the lock boxes and unlock the doors. They will also be deactivating the collars so that when the time comes the Mutanimals will aid the rebel soldiers in fighting and distracting the loyal soldiers. The rebel lookout soldiers will then help guide the non-fighters through the secret paths we've been working on for months now. We have stairwells, tunnel and vent ways above and below each floor, secret doors, all types of things we've been setting up for quick escapes. All the fighters on the lower floors will do what they can to weaken and fight of the loyal soldiers and those fighters will escape when they can.

Just then, a scratchy female voice suddenly started talking. _"Attention, attention! We just overheard that in two minutes Shredder will be sending out a message that ALL soldiers and Dragons will be told to report to the bottom floors. I repeat ALL soldiers are going to be told to report to the bottom floors. From what we non-fighters have seen and have overheard, it sounds like Shredder is onto something since he knows the turtles are here. Everyone needs to PROCEED WITH CAUTION."_

"Ughhhhhhh" all the human boys groaned.  
"Who was that?" Mikey asked.  
"That was our friend Lindsay, aka one of the people who has access to the collars and to the explosive devices" Nate said. "We were going to send so many rebels to knock out the loyals and then those rebels would place the devices on the lock boxes, but if Shredder is calling down EVERYONE way earlier than expected, then 1. We don't have enough time to set things up before he realizes his soldiers are missing, and 2. Now there won't be anyone up here in general to attach the devices without being seen."  
"Well I guess that's where we come in" Raph said with a smile.  
All the boys wide eyes were now facing Raph.  
"You…you guys would do that for us?" Key asked, a bit taken aback.  
Leo smiled as he walked over towards the teen boy. "That's one of the reasons were here. To get Sam and to help free you guys. That's what Jay told us and that's what we're going to do" he said with a nod.  
Key couldn't keep from smiling the huge teeth filled smile that stretched from one side of his face to the other. He then put his hand out for a handshake in front of Leo.  
"Thank you, you guys have no idea how many hundreds of thousands of people will be indebted to you after tonight."  
Leo shook the boys hand and the conversation continued as to what would happen that night.

This time Josh took charge as he began going over the game plan. "Alright, you guys are going to follow us as we take you to one of our labs on the top floor. There we'll give you guys the bags with all the devices, don't worry they're not that big they're probably about the size of your palm. You're going to start placing them on the lock boxes throughout the 5th through 12th floors. Like Kris said earlier, the collars on the Mutanimals will also be deactivated around the same time so not to many soldiers should be able to head your way, but if any get by we'll try to send as many guys as we can up your way to help you out. One of our main goals is to prevent any Foot soldiers or Purple Dragons from leaving this building because that's how they'll start bringing the city to its knees, by using those mutagen weapons. That will be our main priority, but don't worry we won't leave you hanging either we promise. We need to move now though so that we stay on schedule so any questions or comments will be answered once we get to the lab."

The turtles nodded and the human teens nodded back. This time the boy known as Brad led the way. He put on a pair of tech goggles and right after he jumped back up to the vent that the boys used to enter the room in the first place.  
"What are those for?" Mikey asked in excitement after seeing the super cool looking goggles.  
Josh, Nate, and Kevin went to speak, but Donnie beat them to it.  
"In simple terms they prevent us from falling into traps like the one we literally fell into earlier."  
The three boys nodded in approval at the fact that their new companion must have known a good amount about the device in order to make such an accurate statement, and then they cringed as they remembered hearing about how the turtles were captured not much earlier that evening.  
"Sorry about that" the three said in unison.  
"Don't worry, luckily you guys had our back from the beginning being up in the vents and in the room with us the whole time" Donnie reassured.  
"That was the original plan, but Sam was the one that contacted us through the walkie talkies and told us to hang tight and let her handle it" Nate stated.

"Guys, let's go!" Leo shouted from the vent above. With that, everyone in the room was now crawling through the vent ways. They twisted and turned and climbed up and slid down until eventually they were led to a stairwell. It seemed sturdy, but definitely dusty and unused. After a few more minutes the group stopped at the top of the stairwell as it completely stopped in the middle of a wall. Brad adjusted his goggles as he stared at the wall while the other human boys all put their ears up against the wall, listening closely. After a couple more minutes had passed by, Brad nodded to the boys as the all carefully pushed on the wall. A space about three feet long and six feet high slowly began to open as the boys pushed forward and slid the cover to the side. They then entered the space as they walked into the laboratory.  
Kevin walked over towards the far wall and grabbed a large rolled up sheet of paper off the top of a cabinet along with three large brown sacks. "Here," he said as he gave the sheet and the sacks to Donnie, knowing that he would instantly start looking over and examining the sheet and the devices within the bags, which was exactly what he was doing now, "these are the devices that you will place on each lock box and this is a map with the entire layout of the building PLUS all our secret spaces. Use this to guide you through the 5th to 12th floors in case you need to hide or escape or anything to protect yourselves."  
Leo didn't not trust the group, but he was curious as to some of their actions. "Hey, how come you handed all that to him?"  
Kevin paused. "Oh sorry, you're the leader so I guess I should have handed all the materials to you. My bad man I just know he's the brains of your team so I-"  
"How did you know that?" Leo asked.  
"A lot of us have known about you guys for a while now after the incident at the Sachs Estate months ago. We also know about the soldiers breaking into and destroying your home."  
"Did you guys have to do with that?" Raph asked, growing a bit concerned.  
"Luckily no, we were all working on different missions at that time, but everyone in the clan knew about those events. We were all told to be on alert for you guys, that kind of thing."  
"So what happens when hundreds of thousands of people who know about our existence are set free?" Donnie asked.

Kris took the floor, acting as a momentary leader. "Don't worry, these people have been waiting for years for a chance to escape from the clan. I'm sure you know about Sam's reasons for joining, right?" The turtles nodded in response. "More than half the people here joined for reasons like those, hell that's the reason that I'm here! We didn't ask for this, but we are asking for a chance to escape and go back to the way our lives used to be. Sadly there are some people here who don't even know what life was because their entire lives have been here. People of all kinds from all backgrounds have been forced to join the Foot for whatever reason Shredder deemed fit, so if you help them live freely again, they would never ever expose you guys. Trust me, if something crazy like that ever happened then it would be easily come out among the survivors who was dumb enough to leak info about you existence. So many people are already fans of you guys after the way you fought Shredder on top of the Sachs lab building and they'll do anything they can to protect and support you guys now. Also, a lot of people have come to love the Mutanimals, so they'd be extreme hypocrites if they protected them and then leaked info on you guys. Just trust me when I say that no one will expose you guys to the public. Okay?" Kris asked, hoping that he had pleaded a reasonable enough case to get the turtles to trust and believe the honest words that he had said.

The turtles all looked at each other and then looked at Mikey. They knew that he had the purest heart of their family and left it in his hands whether or not they should trust what the boy had just told them.  
Mikey kept a serious expression on his face, but he nodded his head. "I believe him. They were right behind Sam after she protected us from Karai, and if she trusts them then so should we. If he says that the rebels are on our side then we need to give them a chance. If we can't give them a chance then how can we ever hope for humans to accept our existence in return?"  
The three older brothers smiled at their baby brother. He was a complete doofus 99% of the time, but then he had his rare moments like this when he truly got his act together and was able to make such clear and well thought out decisions. How this came from the same person the three would never know.  
"Speaking of which," Mikey started again, "where is Sam? What will she be doing? When do we get to talk to her?"  
That's when the smiling faces of the human boys soon turned into ones of sorrow and frustration.  
Kris put his hand on Mikey's shoulder as he spoke. "Look, you have to listen to everything I have to say before you jump to conclusions, okay?"  
Mikey nodded and Kris gave him a reassuring smile as he pat his shoulder and brought his arm back.

"Sam has been training as a right hand man for Shredder so that he would truly believe that she was a loyal soldier for his clan. Because of that, she should be right by his side tonight and will be doing her best to distract him from the chaotic events going on around him when his plans get all messed up. If Shredder is distracted then leaders like Karai, Tatsu, Sachs, and Hun will have to rapidly be giving orders over top of each other which will continue to screw things up for the clan even more and will also make it easier for us to take them down. This also means that Sam will probably be the one to fight Shredder throughout the night, but thanks to her skills and her devices, she's literally the best one for the job. Of all the rebel soldiers she's definitely one of the best in the business and is the perfect person for this job. Once the Mutanimals have helped knock out a lot of the loyal soldiers and helped destroy their weapons, they will rush to help Sam out as well. Her goal is to keep Shredder near the top of the building so that she can try to knock him off. If Shredder comes crashing down to the ground from the 15th floor then this time he'll fall to his doom. His armor from last time was destroyed and even if for whatever reason he has a trick up his sleeve that keeps him alive, there won't be anyone around to save him and bring him home for medical treatment."  
"Sorry I know this isn't the time for these questions, but how did Sam become the perfect person for all this?" Leo asked.  
"About a month or so before she joined us, someone spotted a girl running around with you guys and one of our new objectives was to study the subject. None of us knew it at the time, but that girl ended up being Sam. When she followed Jay here on her first night she basically offered herself for human trials to Shredder to prove that she wanted to join the Foot clan. She then trained with us and quickly rose up in the ranks. Then there was the night you guys caught her. Shredder obviously wasn't happy about that and he began losing trust in her, so she offered herself up to him again and basically begged him to train her so that she could hunt and kill you guys herself. She knew that she would never actually do that, but she had to do whatever it took to keep you, Jay, and everyone else safe, so she did what needed to be done to earn his trust. Trust me no one likes that she's in this position, but she has incredible skills to begin with, she knows a lot about different mutagens she can combine with the sleeve device that she built, and she's been with Shredder side by side for a few weeks now, so she literally is the best person amongst the rebels to fight him."  
Leo nodded his head. "Sorry to ask, just-"  
"Don't worry about it. Sam wasn't the only one who was put in a tough situation. You all went through some tough and crazy shit in how all this was handled and we get that. None of this is easy and some people's lives have been toyed with in much worse ways because of the Foot clan. Sadly you guys are just four more names to the list of victims who have been hurt by the Foot" Kris said in a sympathetic tone.  
"Nice to know you're the guys she's been hanging with then" Leo said kindly.  
"Oh trust me there's a lot of us, but all that's for another time. We need to go soon and be ready for when Shredder sends that message for all soldiers to meet. I'd advise starting on the lower floors so that those guys can escape quicker than the ones who are closer to the top of the building."  
"Alright, we'll do everything that we can to assist you guys" Leo reassured.  
"Here take this" Brad said as he handed each turtle an old looking walkie talkie.  
"Are you sure these will work?" Raph asked. "They look pretty worn down."  
"Well that's the point" Donnie cut in, "this stuff is so ancient that it would be more difficult to detect the signals and intercept the messages being sent back and forth. There are courses that teach you how to intercept and disconnect conversations through newer devices, but not on how to handle devices as old as these."  
"He's good, we need to find him and talk to him more one day" Brad said as the other nerds of the group agreed, which also got a smile from the surprisingly bashful Donatello.  
"Alright, it's time for our groups to split up. Be careful and good luck to you four" Kris said.  
"Same to you guys. Update your group if you can and we'll do everything we can to get those devices in place."  
"Lindsay, aka the voice from earlier, she'll let you know when the devices are being set off, and then updates will be sent from then on as to what's going on.  
Everyone nodded in agreement and the two groups split up, each getting ready to complete their own mission.

 ***About 8:30p.m.***

The turtles were hiding out in the unused stairwell as they waited for the call to come in that they could start placing the devices along the lock boxes. They were waiting on the 5th floor of the staircase so that it would be quicker for these hostages to escape compared to those who would have to run, climb, or whatever they needed to do down to escape the building. Donnie was sitting on the steps as he got out a rewired GPD device and began setting it up so that he could use it to take care of any cameras that were detected within each hallway.  
 _*click, click, click*  
_ Kris had mentioned before they left that they wouldn't be able to actually talk into their walkie talkie's since that would be a dead giveaway in the crowded room down below filled with Foot Soldiers what they were scheming, so instead the boys would just click the button to their walkie talkie three times exactly to signal when it was safe to start placing the devices on the lock boxes.  
Now that the turtles has been given their signal they set out to complete their mission. They slowly and quietly opened the door as they filed out into the hallway. Donnie led the way so that he could use his GPD device to detect any cameras within each hallway. He pulled up the pages he used to detect various types of hidden cameras and once he believed he had altered each one, he waved his brothers on to place the devices on the lock boxes. Leo, Raph, and Mikey ran down the hallway as they took a small device from each sack and placed it on top of each lock box that they ran past. There were five cells on the 5th floor so it didn't take long to complete the task once the cameras had been altered, and that quickly the four turtles were able to move onto the next floor.  
Overall this ran pretty smoothly. The group followed this pattern on the 6th through 11th floors until they then received an actual call from Kris across the walkie talkie's.  
 _"Hey guys just a quick heads up, Sachs apparently was sitting in a safe space somewhere and detected the cameras had been changed. He contacted Shredder and to keep things short, soldiers will be heading your way very soon. The battle down here started not too long ago and it's pretty chaotic, but we're going to try and send rebels your way as soon as we can. Oh, and apparently Sachs has some of the older Mutanimals with him, another sign that Shredder was probably onto something. From what we've seen all the collars have been disabled, but we don't know if Sachs or Shredder have anything they're hiding up their sleeves, so if you come across them then please try to act cautiously since if the mutants attack for any reason then I guarantee it's not because they want to, it's against their will. Be careful and hopefully we'll see you soon."_

"Alright guys, we need to be careful from now on. We'll try to do what we can on this next floor, but be prepared to fight at any moment" Leo stated.  
The boys used the secret staircase as they made their way up to the final floor for their mission. They weren't sure if the devices had detonated yet and if the non-fighters were being set free, but they knew that they had to keep planting these devices in their given locations in order for those innocent lives to be set free at some point throughout the night. They reached the next floor and this time all four brothers ran to try and plant devices on the lock boxes since Donnie no longer needed to alter the cameras since they had already been caught. Just as the last device was placed on the box, the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder from one of the main stairwells nearby.  
"We can't use any of the secret passageways since that will lead them to the escapees, we need to find somewhere to hide and fight, now!" Donnie exclaimed.  
"Is there anywhere nearby on the map?" Leo asked.  
Donnie tried examining the map as quickly as he could.  
"There's some space towards the top floor that we could use to distract-"  
Just as Donnie finished saying this, a large group of Foot soldiers came running down from the opposite side of the hallway.  
"Donnie…" Leo began.  
"Got it! I know this map inside and out, so follow me!"

The tallest of the brothers sped off as he led the way out of that hallway and towards one of the main staircases. Instead of running up the staircase all the way to the 15th floor, the turtles grabbed onto the rails where they curved and each quickly swung themselves up until they had reached the highest part of the staircase. This bought them a few minutes to spare as they waited for the soldiers to run up and chase after them.  
"In order to buy more time then we need to split up. This stairwell is in the middle of the building which means that outside this door are four hallways, so each of the four of us is going to run off and fight off as many of them as possible alone."  
The brothers all nodded to each other as they quickly dispersed. Soldiers were now flooding the stairwell and within seconds of the brothers dispersing the soldiers were now storming down the hallways after them.  
Donnie had sprinted towards the hall leading behind the staircase and took off. He could hear the sounds of footsteps growing closer and closer to where he was standing which meant that he would have to act quickly. He quickly turned his head and was shocked to see how far back the soldiers actually were, and to take advantage of this he started the fight off by launching shuriken stars back at the soldiers. It didn't do much but it slowed them down a little bit more. Donnie then made a right and continued to run. He figured that there was a 50/50 chance he might be running into Raph soon if he had made two left turns after leaving the staircase, and this thought was soon confirmed as Donnie could hear the sound of his brother grunting as came up on another corner where he would be turning right.  
"Raph!" Donnie called out, signaling to his brother that he was nearby as he rounded the corner.

The two were now running towards each other as Raph yelled for his brother to go up. Donnie nodded as he leapt upwards but pulled his bo staff out and let it hang down. Raph grabbed on and swung it so that it launched Donnie towards the soldiers who had been closing in on Raph. Donatello successfully knocked out the first four soldiers who had been running towards them and he quickly jumped back to his feet as he swung his bo as another three soldiers came running at him. His bo connected with each sword that was swung at him, blocking each swift attack that was aimed at him. He waited for the right moment and used his weapon to push back the other three. He then jumped up and kicked both of his legs outwards in a split position, kicking both soldiers at his sides and knocking them down as he did so. This just left the last soldier in front of him. The two continued on with their battle as the soldier pulled out a second sword and quickly swung both blades towards Donnie. Donnie was careful in how he held his bo as he blocked the man's attacks until finally he held his weapon horizontally and waited for the man to bring both blades down at the same time. Donnie caught them with his bo staff and then shoved the man's blades upwards as he then kicked the man's leg. As the man came tumbling down, Donnie then swung his bo so that it whacked the man's forehead and knocked him out cold.  
"Nice shot" Raph said as he jogged over and stood next to his brother now that he was done fighting his own small group of soldiers. That was what confused Donatello at the moment.  
"How many soldiers did you just fight?" Donnie asked.  
"Five, why?"  
"I only fought three after knocking out four, so a total of seven."  
"So what's the problem?"  
"There should be way more than that. There was a large group of soldiers running up that staircase, so where are they now?"  
Just then Mikey came up from the left and Leo came up from the right.  
"Are any soldiers following you two?" Donnie asked as he and Raph got their weapons ready to fight.  
Both Mikey and Leo stood there confused.  
"Dudes, only like four soldiers followed me around and knocking them out was a piece of cake" Mikey stated.  
"Same, I assumed the majority were following you two" Leo said as he carefully walked over towards his brothers, never letting his guard down.  
"Wait, so no one is being followed right now? After all those people we saw we're all alone now?" Raph asked.  
"They must be waiting for us somewhere. They're planning something, and right now they're probably waiting for us. They knew that we would have kept running around in circles, well technically in a square since the building is in the shape of-"  
"Get on with it!" Raph urged.  
"Right, hehe. If we were to just keep running around and around, they would start finding ways to corner us into wherever they would want us to go. Guys, did any of the soldiers ever try to keep you against the walls, or try to knock you into a side room or anything?" Donnie asked.  
The boys all shook their heads.  
"How about this, did they just continue to chase you in a line, and possibly turn you around when you began going straight for too long?"  
Raph continued to shake his head, but Leo and Mikey were now nodding.  
"What's the point?" Raph asked impatiently.  
"They're not trying to push us out and corner us in the hallways, they're trying to get us to go inwards. They wanted to block our paths so that we couldn't keep running around the outside of the building, they want us to head inwards where this large room is" he said as he pointed to a large open space on the map. "Why they want us to go here, that I don't know."  
"If we know this, do you think we should head straight in?" Raph asked.  
Leo paused before he spoke. "Normally I would say no, but if we wait too long then the soldiers might head back downstairs, and we can't let that happen. We'll slowly head into the center room and we'll go from there."  
The brothers nodded as they slowly and quietly walked through the hallways. Not long after, soldiers from three of the four sides came rushing at them. The turtles darted through the hallways as they made their way towards the large room. It was dark inside, but as soon as the turtles stepped foot into the room, the lights suddenly came on. The turtles came to a halt as all the doors in the room shut and soldiers came flying down from a walkway that ran around the upper half of the room. Within seconds there were soldiers on every side of the room as they gathered around the turtles who were now forced against the wall.  
"Well, looks like we found out why they wanted us in this room" Raph groaned.  
All four turtles had their weapons out and ready for whatever came next, but they definitely weren't expecting what did happen.  
With almost perfect timing someone had leaped down from the walkway above and landed directly in front of the turtles. They were wearing black, but the guys knew that she was on their side as they now stood facing the back of Sam as she kneeled sideways in front of them, wondering how this next event would play out.

* **Earlier that evening, Sam P.O.V.***

Sam ran and hid inside a small office as she fought to control her breathing. At this point she couldn't really feel the pain in her arm anymore since she was so distracted by everything that had just happened. How had the turtles even known about tonight? She had lied to them and did everything she could to push them away, so why were they here?! She then remembered that the other night her older brother had a small mission to take care of and she wondered if he had anything to do with it.  
"Damnit Jay" Sam whispered to herself.  
Thoughts were running all throughout her head as she wondered what the turtles thought of her after the stunt she had just pulled moments ago. She didn't know what information they were given before they had arrived and she was afraid to find out, but depending on what they did and didn't know could have made the entire situation either better or worse. She assumed that they knew all the key details since they hadn't really reacted when they saw her enter the room. A small smile appeared on the girl's face as she realized that the turtles not reacting probably meant that they knew she was on their side and that in order to protect her act then they needed to do whatever it took to trick Karai into thinking they felt nothing towards her, hence them not reacting to her entrance. This momentarily put Sam at ease…until she realized that she had kicked Raph in one of their most sensitive spots. Sam cringed as she remembered this and the motion made her arm hurt a bit more.

She grabbed her throbbing arm as she slowly slide down and sat against the wall behind her. It terrified her to think of how Raph now thought of her. She would have been lucky if he had forgiven her in any way after all she had done to him, and if he had been generous to even reach that mindset, would he truly forgive her now after she had hurt him AGAIN?! Would any of the others think the same way now?  
That's when she thought back to how Mikey had looked at her, the way he had never broken eye contact with her. Sam went from grabbing onto her hurting arm to then grabbing onto her shirt in front of her chest. Her heart was pounding as she thought back to when she cracked the whip in front of Mikey. Again, thoughts were soaring around in her head. The first main thought was of how he had trusted her. He knew she would choose him so that he would stay calm because he knew she could only 110% trust him. He had known she wanted his trust and he had given it to her, but that's what brought on the second main thought. What if she had messed up? What if she hadn't used a high enough dosage of the mutagen and the whip didn't freeze in time, or even at all? What if she had hurt Mikey?  
Sam hadn't realized that her arm was feeling better as she now brought her knees up to her chest and as her hands grabbed onto the side of her head as she now rocked back and forth.  
"Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down" she said over and over again to herself. As much as she dreaded when she would have to face the turtles again, she knew now wasn't the time to start worrying about it. She had to keep her head in the game and focus on the task at hand, and now that her arm was feeling better, she needed to go find Shredder and follow through with her part of the plan.

As Sam exited the room and headed towards her meeting spot with Shredder on the 4th floor she mentally went over her part of the rebellion in her head. Over and over again she mentally prepared herself for what was to come next.  
Finally, Sam had arrived at the meeting spot. As she stepped foot into the smaller training room she hid her shock in seeing Tatsu standing next to Shredder.  
"Forgive me for being late Sensei. I had some sudden matters to attend to" Sam said as she walked over towards Shredder and bowed in front of him.  
Shredder looked at the girl with the same evil stare that he used towards everyone.  
"I heard" he replied. "Somehow the turtles knew about tonight's events and decided to stop by for a visit. What a coincidence."  
"With your permission Sensei I would like to-" Sam said before the man in front of her held his hand up and signaled for her to stop. She closed her mouth and she looked up at Shredder whose expression had become more stern.  
"You see Samantha, I already have suspicions that it wasn't you who warned the turtles, but rather your older brother."  
Sam remained calm, but instantly tried to carefully defend her brother.  
"But Sensei…I don't understand, what would be his reason for-"  
"For you of course. Your brother has always been foolish and never could follow my orders, no matter what I did to teach him a lesson. He couldn't listen when instructed not to go to the cops, so I had his parents killed. He then refused to join when I asked him to, so I had his adopted parents killed, and then he wouldn't act in missions I commanded him to, so I had the majority of his siblings killed. I thought that by leaving one sibling alive then he would have a reason for living, which meant that I could still control him however I wanted, but by giving him one final chance to prove himself to me I made a grave mistake, and that was letting you live and turn into what you have become."  
By this time Sam was standing quietly. She wasn't sure where Shredder was going with all this, but she wasn't going to interrupt him either. She stood their patiently as she listened to what the man had to say.  
"Letting you live that night gave way for a broken child to find something that would make them whole, and for you that was the turtles. They gave your life meaning again in ways that your brother couldn't, especially since he was always here working for me. Because of that, even when you came to work for me, you continued to put them first. I gave you so many chances Samantha and you had such great potential for becoming a true and honorable Foot Soldier, but even after all the ways I had to convince you to join my side, you continued to fight for them" Shredder said, yelling at the last part and clenching his fist in anger. "Karai told me about your mutagen malfunction. Please Sam, tell me, do you think I'm stupid?" he asked as he glared at the girl.  
"I'd never think such a thought" Sam responded calmly.  
"Heh, I beg to differ. I have your records from the human trials and you haven't had a malfunction like that for a long time, so this unexpected mishap is total bullshit. I was also informed of which turtle you chose to harm and the eye contact between you two, and it doesn't sound like the type of connection you make with an enemy, but rather like you're trying to send a signal to an ally. I should have known better than to have given you the chance to train under me, and such a betrayal doesn't deserve punishment, but rather, it deserves death."  
Sam grinned as she stared up at the man. "So, tonight is the final battle between us, huh?"  
Shredder smirked as he glared at Sam in a way that sent a chill up her spine.  
"Oh no, tonight is a very important night for me, the night when my clan takes over the city under my control. I have much more important matters to attend to, so I'm going to trust one of my most loyal soldiers to end your life."  
That's when Tatsu took a step forward and sent an evil smile in Sam's direction.  
Sam's eyes went wide as she realized that this would ruin the plans that had been set up for that night. Her job was to fight and distract Shredder, not to play around with Tatsu!  
"Coward! You can't even handle your own dirty work?!" Sam shouted as Shredder began to walk out of the room.  
He turned his head to look back at the girl one last time as he stood in the doorway. "You're not important enough to be dirty work. You're simply just taking out the trash, scraping off the dirt on my shoe. You are nothing and will always be nothing, especially when you're rotting in the ground."  
And with that, Shredder walked out of the room, and Tatsu came charging at Sam the moment his Sensei left.

Sam quickly brought out her tonfa and drew them so that they were blocking her face as Tatsu's sword landed right on top of them. Sam pushed back as hard as she could and leaped as far away from him as she could. She didn't want to use her sleeve and it's power unless it was completely necessary because it took a while for it to charge, that and after just using mutagen capsules not much earlier than when this fight started, using another capsule of any kind so soon could also have some deadly side effects. Sam knew she was on her own for this one and she prayed that she was prepared. She only had three sets of weapons on her: her tonfa, Chuck's sais, and Chuck's nunchuks. Right know she was using her strongest weapon as she launched herself downwards towards her opponent.

For the time being Sam was fighting defensively. Tatsu was one of the strongest and most skilled fighters within the building, hence why Shredder brought him over from Japan to help him take over New York. She tried to study his moves and wait for the right moment to try attacking herself, but she wasn't sure just when to start fighting on the offensive side. She could sense the man getting cockier and cockier as the battle drew on, and that's when Sam realized his weakness.  
Sam continued to block his moves until at one point she faked a block. She moved her arm as if she was going to block his blade, but she quickly moved her arm back. The blade came close to slicing into her forehead, but she knew she could be quicker, especially since this pull back caught the man off guard and his lunge forward to hit her was a bit clumsy since he assumed the shot would be blocked. Sam took advantage of this as she forcefully brought her elbow forward and smashed it against his face. Tatsu then tumbled back some as Sam ran forward and pushed him down on his back. She hoped to have ended the battle there, but she knew that would be way too soon for an opponent of his stature. As she ran back over to him, he swiped his leg to the side to move his body out of the way and pulled a kunai knife out of his pocket to block his head for safety, which ended up being the right move as Sam launched a shuriken star at him. It would have hit him right in the temple if the kunai knife hadn't blocked it. Sam was then tripped as she also lay on the ground next to the man. The two paused for a moment as they realized this was an extremely awkward position to fight in, so they both slid away from each other to give themselves room to quickly stand up and once they did so they were once again charging at each other.  
This time though, Sam slid down so that Tatsu would either have to jump above her, or would bring something down to cut her as she slid by, and this time she was happy that he did the latter. Sam watched carefully as she slid so that she would know which way to dodge, and as she slid by the blade that was way too close to her face, she hooked her tonfa around it as she curved back towards Tatsu who currently had his back to Sam in the position she was in now. She then used the tonfa in her left hand and batted it against his legs, once again making the man stumble, only this time Sam attacked repeatedly on the spot. She continued to hit his legs and dodge as he threw stars at her, but it was much more difficult for him to aim when he felt the pain of his legs being beaten over and over again by the girl's tonfa. Once it was obvious that Tatsu's legs had gone numb, Sam stood up so that she could get a better look at how injured he was. Tatsu tried to sit up, but failed as he was kicked back down. He held his arms up so that he could defend himself, but he was now so weak that even this became a challenge for him. He was able to defend himself for so long until Sam finally had hit his arms so many times with her weapon that he couldn't even hold his arms up anymore.

Sam looked down at the man in front of her. She hated him with all of her being, but she wasn't a murderer. Tatsu was obviously finished for this fight, so instead of killing him she decided to pin him, but of course in a pretty brutal way. I mean hey, he was still the bad guy, and if he got back up then he would have tried to kill her for sure, so it was only fair. Plus he had done ten times worse to her than what she was going to do to him, so again, only fair.

She grabbed two of the kunai knifes that had been thrown at her and shoved them into the man's palms, pinning him to the ground as he groaned in pain. He would never yell out and show his enemy that he was suffering, but his groan was all that Sam needed to hear to know that she was momentarily safe from his attacks. As she stood up and began to walk out of the room she heard him mumble "you would have been such a good soldier…it's such a shame we'll have to kill you…you'll never survive tonight, one of us will finish you-"  
That fast the man was out cold as soon as Sam's foot connected with his face. She shook her head at him.  
 _"Yeah, and I'm sure you could have become an American hero if you used your skills towards a worthy cause. It's a shame you'll rot in jail once you're captured tonight"_ Sam thought to herself as she exited the room. Tatsu could have been a true hero and saved so many lives, but sadly life somehow showed him the wrong path and taught him to fight for the wrong person. It was a shame, but sadly these things happen.

Sam was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realize Jay was now running in front of her in the hallway she had just entered.  
"Sam?! Wake up!" he said as he ran up to her and shook his hand in front of her face.  
Sam looked up at her brother. "Dude I'm fine, I just let my thoughts get a hold of me, but don't worry I'm fine. Where is everyone and what's going on right now?"  
"The guys that were in the room with you, by the way how's your arm-"  
"It's fine tell me what's happening!"  
"Okay, okay" Jay replied as he held his hands up in defense, "the guys from the room you were in earlier with the turtles, they informed them of what was going on tonight and the four of them volunteered to help us out. They're the ones who have been going around and have been placing the devices on the lock boxes so that the hostages could be set free! While our guys were blending in and acting as if nothing was going on, they were secretly helping move our plan along. Once the signal was sent, the collars were deactivated, the battle began, and the hostages have begun to escape!" he stated with a smile.  
Sam continued to give her brother a serious expression. "Is everything alright? How is the plan playing out so far?"  
"Many of the hostages have already left the building, but there's still a large amount who still need assistance in their escape. The Mutanimals are now fighting with us EXCEPT for the older ones."  
"What's wrong with them?" Sam asked, tilting her head to the side.  
"Shredder sent the older ones off with Sachs. A lot of us think it was a precaution he took since he began to suspect something was up once the turtles arrived. Anyway, they're all with Sachs whom they would have attacked on the spot, but from what some hiding eyes have told me, Sachs is keeping Professor Jordan Perry as his own personal hostage by gun point, so the Mutanimals are playing dumb with their collars so that he doesn't harm Perry."  
"So Sachs is still in the building, how about Hun and Karai?"  
"They're currently on the lower floors helping their Soldiers and Dragons fight off the rebels. So far we seem to be winning that battle thanks to the younger generation of Mutanimals, but we need to be cautious since a lot of rebels are needed to help the hostages escape, so the battle could flip at any moment if our numbers downstairs drop to low."  
"Okay…Where are the turtles?" Sam asked softly, both worried for their safety, but also terrified for when she would have to face them again.  
"I believe they're somewhere upstairs. Once Sachs, who was watching from a security room down below, picked up on the changes in the cameras times and what not, he sent soldiers upstairs to chase after the turtles. That's the last I heard of their situation."  
Sam nodded her head, praying that all four of her friends were alright.  
"Okay, I'll go head upstairs to help them. If you leave now then-"  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm not leaving!" Jay said defensively.  
"Jay I was just with Shredder and he knows you're the one who contacted the turtles, and YOU IDIOT!" Sam said as she started slapping her brother's shoulder, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY WOULD YOU VISIT THEM?!"  
"Ow, Sam stop!" Jay said as he basically wrapped his arms around Sam so that he was now holding her in a bear hug like stance. "We needed their help and you know it!"  
"I tried to ask them for help and you know what they did!"  
"They kicked you out, I get that" Jay said as he now held his sister in the same stance as her back was against his front. He rested his chin on her head as he continued to speak.

"Sam, if this were a normal teenage situation in any way then I would kick their asses for the way they treated you. But it's not, and as much as you don't want to think about that night, you know it's true. Everything about your side and their side of the situation is royally fucked up and that's why so many of us are even in this situation, because the Foot have given us unfair and fucked up choices, and that includes what happened to all of you that night. You're hurting, trust me I understand that, but tonight all that needs to be pushed aside. Everyone here knows that those four took out Shredder on their own when they knocked him off that building and had him come crashing down in the middle of the streets of New York, and already they've helped us so much in following through with our plan. I know you're scared to face them, but please work with them. They need you as much as you need them, and all of us need all five of you tonight."

Sam was silent as she processed her brother's words and she knew he was right. Everything he said was true and she knew that she had to act as a leader and not as an emotional teenager. Now wasn't the time to focus on emotions, it was time to keep her head in the game and stand tall and fight with honor and protect those who needed someone to look up to.  
"*sigh* alright, you win. But you need to leave now!" she exclaimed as she broke free from her brother's grasp and turned to look up at him with teary eyes.  
Jay gave her a gentle smile as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I know Shredder and the entire clan is after me now. Don't worry, because of this everyone is positioning me to help aide the escapees throughout the secret passageways. I've been instructed not to fight unless it's to defend the hostages. Is that alright?" he asked in a teasing manner.  
Sam looked down at her feet. "If you die…I'll kick your ass" she said as a tear rolled down her cheek.  
Jay pulled her in for one last hug. "I won't die if you promise you'll do everything in your power to stay alive as well."  
Sam nodded into her brother's shoulder as they continued to hug. After a few seconds the two backed away and they went their separate ways. Jay headed down the hall and leaped upwards, reaching for a vent where the tunnel way would lead to one of the secret stairwells, and Sam ran towards the elevators. There was no one there at the moment, so she hopped inside and checked her sleeve. She had enough power for one quick ride, so she leaped up, removed the emergency exit window from the top of the elevator, and after adjusting her sleeve she used it to force huge gusts of air from her palms as she soared up to the top floor of the elevator like a rocket.  
She then pressed some buttons on her sleeve that added to her powers for a split second as she punched the door. The doors to the elevator soared all the way towards the other end of the hallway as Sam quickly got to her feet and ran up a nearby staircase. This led her to the balcony of a large training room below, and as she walked over to peer over the edge, she was shocked to see all four of the turtles standing below her as they were surrounded by Foot soldiers.

At first she was just happy to see that they were all still standing and didn't seem to be badly harmed. This allowed her to let out a quick sigh of relief, but this was no time to celebrate. Sam crouched down and whispered into her walkie talkie "if any rebels hear this, this is Sam Allan Park. Our guests will need our help in fighting off a huge mob of soldiers. Get as many people to meet up along the balcony of the large training room on the top floor, and bring the gas guns. I have a plan. Use the green lights on the guns to signal when I should corner the turtles with me. I can protect them from the knock out gas. Over and out."

And with that Sam leaped up and over the balcony and landed right in front of the turtles as she quickly began to plan her next move.

 **Ahhhhh I wanted this to be the last chapter for the finale but I was wrong. I made it too long for a finale, so this is the pre-finale! Haha the next chapter will be the official end…or will it ;)**

 **You'll just have to keep reading to find out. But hopefully you're still enjoying what you've read so far and I hope you're anticipating what's to come. I'm going to try to finish the next chapter up within this week since after this Sunday I start my college classes again and my summer vacation officially ends. So I'll be working hard so that I can get the official final chapter up!**

 **Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated, and I hope you're enjoying the story! :D**


	27. Chapter 27

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #27

The turtles were in shock as they tried not to stare at Sam was had suddenly appeared in front of them, but they wanted to know where the heck she had come from, and where had she been? Wasn't she supposed to be distracting Shredder? So how did she end up here? Their thoughts were disrupted as they heard the surrounding soldiers start insulting the girl in front of them.  
"Awww look who decided to show up?"  
"Figures, she's on their side!"  
"I knew it! TRAITOR!"  
"Sensei is going to love it when we tell him that we killed the weasel of the clan!" random voices from the crowd of soldiers continued to shout out.  
The turtles couldn't stand what they were hearing and were about to charge forward and begin their attack until they noticed that Donnie was focused on something in front of him.  
While the other three brothers were giving slight glances to each other to signal that they were ready to attack, Donnie was the only one who ignored their signal as he was slowly reaching towards one of his pockets ever so slightly as to not make it known to the crowd in front of him that he was moving at all.

What the other brothers couldn't see was that as Sam kneeled on one knee and held her arm as if it was in pain, this was all a farce. In reality, as the crowd in front of her wasted their time calling her names and insulting her, Sam was using her hidden hand that seemed to be in pain to sign letters to Donnie. Using sign language Sam spelt out the words 'SPREAD OUT IN' as she then held up five fingers, then four, then three, then two, and as she put down her last finger she heard Donnie yell "DISPERSE!" as he threw down one of his homemade smoke bombs.

Sam quickly stood up as she heard the four behind her leap up and over to other portions of the room. She adjusted her glove and was about to throw her right arm up in front of her so that she could use her wind power from the mutagen and the device to blow away any nearby soldiers, but instead she just stood there as her jaw dropped in pained amazement. In front of her was Michelangelo. His back was to the crowd of soldiers and apparently Dragons who were now shooting at the two. Sam hadn't even noticed that there were Dragons mixed in with the crowd, but it had to have been them and not Foot soldiers holding the guns because they were too stupid to aim for Mikey's legs and only aimed for his back and head which of course were blocked by his shell, freaking idiots, but hey it was playing out for them right now so Sam wasn't complaining. In fact, it was perfect that it was only the dumb Dragons who were attacking right now since Sam was so lost in her emotional thoughts that she couldn't move.  
Mikey was standing so that his back was to the crowd so he could deflect all bullets shot at both him and Sam. He had his hands near the side of his head as his arms and elbows stretched outwards. Usually one would stand this way if they were blocking punches that were aimed at their head, but Mikey was doing this so that he could cover and defend as much of Sam's body as he possibly could.

Sam was shocked. How could he defend her like this? He was putting his body and his life at risk so that he could protect her, but what had she done to deserve this? She had kept secrets from him and his family which then lead to her almost possibly killing Raph, and then she treated them all like shit when she had a chance to confess the truth to them. She had done nothing but pushed them away for their own good, so why was he still here protecting her like they were best friends? She had done nothing within that past month that showed him any respect, and hell he was the final one that told her to leave the night of the incident! So why was he here now? Why was he acting like nothing had ever happened?

Sam then looked back up and realized that Mikey had never winced or anything from the bullets being shot at them, but rather he was staring down at her. Even now as he was literally being attacked he was still putting her first. He didn't care what was happening to him, just as long as Sam was safe from any and all harm.  
Sam finally snapped and realized that this was wrong. Her friend needed help and now wasn't the time to get emotional and think over things. Now it was Mikey whose eyes went wide as he saw Sam's eyes turn black as she spun around and kicked him in the chest.  
Mikey went flying backwards. At first he was confused as to why the girl would treat him in such a way, but that was before he heard the groaning of the eight soldiers he had just knocked unconscious as his body slammed against them in the crash. He smiled as he realized where his friends mind was at, but then he switched back to a serious expression as he saw Sam running down the now opened path that Mikey had just created.  
"Up and over!" she yelled at him as she came charging towards him.  
Mikey leaned down and cupped his hands together as Sam jumped up and planted her right foot in his hands as he launched her upwards and behind him. As Mikey pulled out his nunchuks and started fighting the soldiers that were beginning to crowd him he couldn't help but laugh as he saw Sam land on a soldier's shoulders and basically tackle him to the ground and then use his knocked out body as a shield from the surrounding soldiers. Sam was still the same unique and sporadic fighter that she was before everything changed, and that made him happier than anything.

While Mikey continued to fight the small group of soldiers that were with him, Sam looked around to see which brother needed help the most at the moment. Somehow a majority of the soldiers had followed Donnie towards the far corner of the room. Sam ran and zipped through the soldiers, blocking attacks along the way as she made her way over towards where Donnie was defending himself as best as he could against the large crowd, but slowly the incoming soldiers gained the upper hand as they were able to watch for the best moment to swoop in and attack while their rival was distracted. One soldier was about to make their move and Donnie could sense their presence, but because of how many other soldiers were attacking in front of him, he couldn't turn around to defend himself. He braced himself for the attack from the sword that would soon be slicing into the back of his neck, but the cut never came. As Donnie quickly glanced over his shoulder he saw Sam land a kick to the soldier's wrist, and then a punch to the man's face after he grabbed his wrist in pain. Now that Donnie had someone watching his back, he was able to fight off the soldiers in front of him much more aggressively. Sam stayed in this spot and helped guard her friend until the crowd around him dwindled some. She then looked over and saw some soldiers who were scaling the walls over top of where Leo was standing and fighting down below.

Sam foresaw their plan, but she didn't want to leave Donnie hanging.  
"Hey, you good here?" Sam asked as a man ran towards her and she twisted her body so that using his momentum she could flip him over her shoulder and onto his back.  
"I'm fine, go help the others" Donnie replied as he dodged a katana brought down near his shoulder as he then used his bo to slap the man's arm near his elbow and then twisted it so that it nailed his opponent in the face.  
Sam nodded as she ran over towards where Leo was standing. As she ran she launched some shuriken stars up towards the men who were climbing the wall. She had a strong feeling that their plan was to drop themselves onto Leo and basically pile on top of him to a point where it would be difficult for him to get back up and the soldiers would continue to harm him then as well. Each of Sam's throws made a direct hit. Each man's hand was cut which lead to some of them falling instantly, but three remained as they glared down at her. They sensed that it was now or never as they released their hands covered in climbing claws from the wall and aimed their landing towards where Leo was standing. Sam quickly adjusted her sleeve and threw her right hand up as he eyes shone a bright blue color with black covering her iris.  
"Leo duck!" Sam shouted.  
Leo did as he was told as a huge gust of air rushed over top of him, taking the falling soldiers and even some that were standing nearby with it as they all went flying across the room.  
The fight quickly picked back up as Leo stood up and used his katanas to block a sword that was swung at him.  
Sam looked across the room and saw that now it was Raph who had the largest group of soldiers fighting him. She made her way over towards the other side of the room. Somehow these soldiers had gotten their hands on some guns, which was very unusual for soldiers to use guns, but who knew. Tonight hadn't gone the way the Foot would have liked, so maybe they were being extra cautious and were fighting in ways that they weren't used to. Sam threw a more shuriken stars so that they would slice the tips of the guns making them unable to shoot, and once again each star made a direct hit. Within a split second of the soldiers looking at their weapons to see what had happened, Raph had come barreling through the crowd. Sam ran over and aided him in the fight against the now somewhat smaller crowd.  
"Behind you!" Sam shouted as two new soldiers ran towards the large turtle.  
Raph landed a kick to the soldier in front of him as he then turned around and twisted his sais so that they hooked around the men's wrists as he then flipped them behind him. Their bodies slammed against the wall, and as Raph turned to face them to make sure they stuck the landing he had intended, this was when he saw some small green lights from the balcony up ahead.  
"Uhhhh, guys?! We have more company!" Raph shouted.  
"ALLIES!" Sam shouted. She quickly looked around where all the green lights were and noticed that in the far front left corner there were no lights, but green surrounded the top everywhere else up on the balcony.  
She noticed Donnie already heading that way since he had probably already guessed that that was the safe spot. She saw Leo and Mikey doing the same as she nodded toward them to signal that that was the right move.  
"Raph we need to move to the opposite side of the room, now!"  
Raph was a bit stunned after hearing the girl say his name for the first time in weeks. For a brief moment it felt the same as before everything had happened which felt nice, but now wasn't the time to get emotional.

The two made their way through the crowd, but the soldiers soon started swarming them.  
"Raph, can you get us over their quickly, but in a way where I can still prep my sleeve?" Sam asked as she punched one man and shoved him into another.  
"Heh, say no more" Raph said as he swooped the girl over his left shoulder. As he used his right shoulder to barrel through the crowd, Sam was adjusting her sleeve as she was carried on his left.  
As soon as they reached the spot where the other brothers were standing, her sleeve was ready. She heard the clicking of the guns from up above getting ready to launch, and she was just about ready as well.  
"Uhhhh, Sam?" Leo asked nervously.  
"Stand back" she said as she aimed her hand at the ground. Her eyes lit up in blue as huge gusts of air came flying from her palm and went up into the air. Because of how she angled her hand, the air was going straight up, almost as if making a wall of wind that you could physically see. The boys could somewhat see what was happening on the other side. A dark colored gas was shot from the guns above and was now consuming the rest of the room. Thanks to Sam's device, all five of them were now safe from this gas since they were on the other side of the wind wall as it created a barrier from the knock out gas that surrounded the rest of the lower half of the room.

Once Sam saw the green lights turn off then she knew it was safe to stop using her device. The gusts of wind came to an end as Sam removed her hand from its raised position right above the floor and once again her eyes returned to normal. Five of the rebel soldiers from the balcony above removed their masks as they leaped down onto the floor below. Sam recognized the five familiar faces as they removed their masks and she was going to walk over to them and ask for updates on how the plan was going, but she sensed that Mikey was walking behind her. She knew a time would come when she'd have to confront him again and that she wouldn't be able to hide from him forever, but still, now was not the time for the difficult and emotional reunion. As she heard his footsteps come close enough for him to be standing behind her, Sam aimed her arm down as she used her device to push gusts of air from her palms as she rose into the air and up onto the balcony. She could tell that Mikey was upset as he called after her, but she couldn't face him right now for multiple reasons, so she exited the room with the other rebel soldiers to get the updates that she needed.

Meanwhile down below, Mikey was still calling after Sam as the recognized faces of Key, Kris, Kyle, Ken, and now Kevin were running over towards the turtles.  
"Dude she's gone already, just chill, okay?" Ken said. The way he spoke was sympathetic, but Mikey was so consumed by his emotions that he hadn't perceived the man's words that way and reacted harshly for this reason.  
"Sorry, I can't just chill and let my best friend go get killed by the biggest criminal this city has ever known" Mikey said callously.  
Ken could sense the harsh tone and reacted the same way. "I thought you'd have more confidence in her that she could protect herself."  
"I thought you were smart enough not to let someone who sometimes let their emotions take control fight the Shredder by them self."  
"She volunteered herself and she's the best one out of everyone here for the job and you know it."  
"What I know is that I'm the only one who has been trying to stop her from fighting alone."  
The two were standing face to face, chest to chest.  
"We're trying to get to a point where we can go fight with her. Do you honestly think we want her fighting alone?"  
"I've yet to see anyone stop her."  
"That's just because she keeps running away from YOU." *shoulder shove*  
"Only because she's in the situation that YOU allowed." *shoulder shove*  
"Yeah, after you ABANDONED HER." *shoulder shove*  
"Says the one that LIED TO HER when she was suffering all alone after losing her family." *shoulder shove*  
"We did it to keep her safe!" *push*  
"Because letting her run off is really keeping her safe!" *push*  
"As least she wants to talk to me, she can't stand to see you!" *balling up fist*  
"If you weren't such a weak piece of shit then you'd fight Shredder so that she wouldn't be in this situation!" *balling up fist*  
"Well if you weren't such an asshole and supported her when she needed it then she never!-"

Just as Mikey and Ken were about to throw punches at each other, Leo, Raph, Key, Kyle, and Kris came over and broke up the fight. Raph pulled Mikey's arms back as Leo pushed him away just as Kris and Kyle each grabbed one of Ken's arms as Kris pushed him away.  
"Mikey, what are you thinking?" Leo asked. "They're not the enemy! What in your mind is telling you that it's okay to fight with our allies?"  
"Yeah but what he said was!-"  
"Is what he said wrong? No, it's not! Are we proud of how we all acted and how things went down? Of course not! But you know better than to let emotions get in the way, hell you literally just said that you were worried about Sam for doing that. THINK. BEFORE. YOU. SPEAK" Leo said, poking his brother in the forehead each time you spoke.  
Key then turned towards Ken. "Same goes for you dickhead" he said as he flicked Ken on his forehead.  
"I know, but-"  
"Nope, no excuses. Everyone in this room is to blame for what Sam's going through. Those four have their part in all this, and the orange one is right about us. We've been hiding things from Sam for years so we have no right to say a damn thing, NONE of us do. We've all fucked up somewhere along the way, so get over it and let's move on so that we can save Sam!"  
Mikey and Ken looked across the room at each other, their arms still being held back.  
"Sorry for the verbal attacks" Mikey said lightly.  
"Sorry for bringing up dark details. Just, you're not the only one who's concerned about her" Ken replied in the same manner.  
Mikey lightly yanked his arms free, though Raph didn't hold back in any way as he trusted that his brother could now control himself.  
"Good to know," he replied with a grin, "so let's go help her and make up for when we fucked up" he said as he put his hand out in front of him.  
Ken also removed his arms from his friends grasp and walked over to shake Mikey's hand.  
"Sounds good to me."

"Now that that's over," Kris said as he now took the floor, "thanks to you guys a lot of the non-fighters have already left the building. There's still a few more groups who are making their way out though and there's also still a lot of loyal soldiers and dragons within the building who need to be taken down and tied up so that we can move their bodies to the parking garage across the street for the cops. Oh, and we're still trying to figure out Sachs's whereabouts. He still has Professor Perry and the older Mutanimals following him around."  
Just as Kris was finishing up his update, a voice start hollering through his walkie talkie.  
 _"BREACH! BREACH! Soldiers have gotten outside with mutagen weapons and have also destroyed another one of our pathways! Innocents are going to get hurt if we don't help them now!"  
_ "It looks like we have more work to do before we can reach Sam" Kris said.  
"We can help" Leo added.  
Kris looked at the turtle in shock. "Are you guys sure? Like, you'd help us even though you've helped us in so many ways already?"  
"That's sorta what we do" Mikey said teasingly which then received a nod of approval and a fist bump from Ken.  
Kris smiled as he then held his walkie talkie to his lips.  
"This is KW4. I have a group that will pursue the loyals where the breach is. Have any remaining soldiers go with the younger Mutanimals and stop the soldiers that are leaving the building and make sure you retrieve those mutagen weapons before they end up in the wrong hands."  
 _"This is LB3, the breach is on the 12_ _th_ _floor. Also, multiple teams are pursuing the loyal escapees."  
_ "Roger that" Kris replied as he then started leading the group out of the room and downstairs towards the lower floor.

After a few minutes of running down the main stairwell the group then reached the 12th floor. Multiple Foot soldiers were lining innocent people up along the wall. The hostages were forced to put their hands behind their head and kneel down and place their foreheads on the ground. Once the soldiers saw the group of nine enter the room they quickly forgot about the hostages and switched their focus towards attacking and defeating their rivals.  
"Split up and attack them in separate sections. They're strongest when in groups so be aware of that. Kevin, try leading them down the hall towards another stairwell" Kris stated. The others nodded and the battle began.  
Donnie was the quickest and was the first to fight head on with a couple of soldiers that were standing closest to where the group was, and as he fought these two, the others ran past them and continued to fight the others.  
They tried to keep up with this pattern. Kyle and Ken were the next two to reach the soldiers, so as they fought a group of five soldiers the others maneuvered their way past this group and then went to fight the others behind them. Key and Leo took a small group and then past them Kevin and Mikey took a small group as Raph ran past them some and fought any incoming soldiers towards the end of the hall. As soldiers were knocked unconscious and their manned positions were left unguarded, Kevin would run back and lead them back down the way the group had entered the space and then lead them to another secret stairwell nearby. As one section was free, then our heroes would pursue more soldiers that entered the room further down until eventually the majority of them were now fighting as a large group down towards the end of the hall.

Within the commotion of the fight, nobody but Raph has seen a little girl randomly run away from the large crowds. She seemed to be about 5 years old, and what really hurt Raph was how scared she was as she ran away with tears streaming down her face. He honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. Should he go after her, or would that scare her more? Should he wait for someone else to notice? His thoughts were cut short as he saw three more soldiers (when would they stop showing up?!) enter the room and walk over to the girl. One man grabbed her arm while one of his companions opened a door. It seemed like they were going to drag the girl into the room and leave her there so that regardless of what happened they would always have their hostage, and at that point Raph was ticked off beyond belief.  
The largest turtle charged towards the men. Two pulled out katanas while one pulled out a set on tonfa. Blades clashed together as Raph focused on fighting defensively so that he could also keep an eye on where the young child had went. To stunned to move, the girl was paralyzed as she sat up and held her legs to chest against the wall. Raph moved his body so that the soldiers couldn't reach the girl without going through him. Raph waited for the right moment as he hooked his sai onto the one man's katana and as he pulled back the sword went sliding down the hallway. He then brought his knee up and kicked the man as he was caught off guard, and then Raph shoved him into his companion. Raph then went head to head with the ninja wielding the tonfa staffs. The two fought to be on the offensive side of the battle, but in the end it was Raphael who won as he used his sais to push the tonfa staffs to the side as he then lunged his head forward and swiftly bashed the other man in the head with his own.

Just as the last man fell to the floor, Raph sensed movement behind him. What he hadn't realized was that the little girl behind him had cautiously chased after the katana that had slid down the hallway as she was now holding it above the head of one of the soldiers who had already fallen unconscious. Raph was about to call out to her not to do what he feared she would, but just as he opened his mouth, a young woman had run over and yelled to the girl to stop first. She rushed past the turtle as if he wasn't even there and ripped the sword from the child's hands as she tossed it to the side and hugged the girl tightly. The girl was still crying, but the hug was definitely calming her down. Raph realized this woman was the child's mother, and he was shocked at the fact that these two had been living here together. He couldn't imagine what horrors the two had experienced while living here, and he feared how they might traumatize this child's future even if she did escape.  
Just then, a couple of Purple Dragons had run down the hallway and began shooting wildly throughout the hallway. Raph rushed over to the women and towered over them. He used his shell to block any bullets that came near them as they cowered in front of him, the mother holding her daughter tightly and trying her best to use her body to shield her child from any stray bullets as well. Eventually Leo and Key ran down and took out both those two and all other Purple Dragons members that were making their way down the hallway. Raph would have joined…but he just had to know how this poor child ended up in this position.  
"Why…why is your kid here?" Raph asked. He didn't mean for his words to come out sounding as cold as they did, but he couldn't hide how irked he was that this woman allowed this to happen.  
The woman glared up at the turtle in front of her. "Do you think I wanted this? I was pregnant when I was captured. I never even got the chance to tell her father that I was carrying since I was captured so soon! And because of how twisted this place is I couldn't even save her by putting her up for adoption if I wanted to!" the woman said aggressively.  
Raph's heart was crushed. He was a tough guy and wasn't the best at showing emotion (and honestly he hated when he had to) but hearing this broke his heart. How could this world be so cruel to such innocent people? This child had probably experienced nothing but violence in this hostile environment and probably didn't even understand why, she had no clue as to why she was born and raised in a place where no one has a say in how they're treated or even why they're treated so terribly.  
He looked down at the woman and gave her a sympathetic look as he spoke gently. "I didn't mean to say it like that, and I'm not judging, just…I'm so, so sorry…"  
The woman calmed down herself and changed her tone as she also spoke kindly to him. "Thanks to you guys, she'll never have to suffer like this ever again" she said as she began to smile. "Thank you."  
The little girl then smiled up at Raph as well. "Thank you sir."  
Raph couldn't help but smile as he kneeled down in front of the child. "Hey now, I'm only 15. I'm too young for you to call me sir. Just Raph, kay?"  
The girl looked as if she was going to say something else, but Kevin had called over to the girl and her mom, and after sending Raph one more thankful smile, the two ran off to follow Kevin towards the secret stairwell they would use to escape.  
As Kevin ran off with the group of innocent escapees, Kris walked back over towards the turtles and informed them on what to do next.  
"Alright guys, I just got word that Sam is looking for Shredder right now so that she can follow through with her portion of the plan. There's still a lot of non-fighters that need guidance, and there's still a decent amount of Foot Soldiers who are trying to escape the building and wreak as much havoc as they can. You guys have fought Shredder before, so you four are way more capable in helping her fight him than we are."  
"Do you know where she is now?" Leo asked.  
Kris nodded. "She's a little further down on the 10th floor. It's not as large as before, but there's another open room that's used as a training space. From what I was told she was trailing Shredder and they ended up near that room. I'll show you-"  
"It's this one, right?" Donnie asked as he pointed to a small square on the map.  
Kris couldn't help but smile at how quick the brainy turtle was. "That's the one. Most of our enemies should be further down away from your destination at this point, so taking the main stairwell should be your quickest route. We'll try to catch up with you guys, but we've already sustained some injuries up until now, but we'll do the best we can."  
Leo shook his head. "You guys focus on getting everyone else out of here. You've all dealt with Shredder far enough. We'll work with Sam to take him down, so you guys need to fight to get everyone to safety. Got it?"  
"Spoken like a true leader" Kris stated. "Alright, good luck and go kick ass" he said as he pat Leo on the shoulder as he ran past him, gathered up the rest of his group, and then left in the direction that Kevin had moments before.  
"Alright guys, let's go save our sister" Leo said aloud to which all his brothers smiled and nodded. Donnie lead the way since he now knew this map like the back of his hand. He noted where all the short cuts throughout the building were, and because of this the four brothers arrived at their destination much quicker than they expected. They expected to at least hear either Sam or Shredder or someone somewhere nearby…but the training room was completely empty and silent upon their arrival.  
"I don't like this" Raph softly growled, sensing that something was up.  
Each of them jumped a bit when out of nowhere they heard a rustling. Donnie listened closely as he realized that the sound was coming from him. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the walkie talkie that he was given earlier when they first came into contact with their teen allies. After fidgeting with the device a voice could finally be heard clearly through the connection.  
 _"Turtles? Turtles!"_ the voice shouted.  
"We're here!" Mikey shouted before Donnie could speak after hitting the button to communicate.  
"Smooth" Raph said as he rolled his eyes and shoved his brother.  
 _"We've been played! We have some weasels amongst the rebels, everything you were told was a trap! Stay away from the 10_ _th_ _floor…"  
_ The turtles could hear the voice continue to go on, but at this point it just sounded like mumbles. Each of them began to feel dizzy, and before any of them could say anything, or explain to Mikey what was happening, each of them fainted and collapsed onto the floor.

 ***20 minutes later***

The brothers began to open their eyes, or at least the fought their hardest to do so. They all felt light headed as they woke back up and tried to remember what had last happened to them.  
Raph was the first to try and actually move, and by doing so, he was the first to realize that once again they were all handcuffed, but this time the electronic cuffs were attached to the wall, and instead of their hands being behind them they were now hanging up and off to the side.  
"Great, just great" Raph mumbled.  
"I see you're finally awake. Funny, this is like Déjà vu, isn't it?"  
The turtles groaned as they recognized whose voice they had just heard as they looked up and saw that in front of them was Eric Sachs. Just like the teen rebels had said, Sachs was surrounded by some of the older looking members of the Mutanimals while holding Jordan Perry hostage as he currently held a gun to the kneeling man's head. There was a tall wolf with brown fur, a darker green colored female turtle who had a lot of muscle, a male turtle who had even larger muscles, a lighter green female turtle with a slimmer figure, a female cougar with tan fur, and a large and tall alligator. It was the male turtle and the wolf who were holding the turtle's weapons as Sachs continued to talk.

"Ahhh it's so nice to see you boys again. The thing is, I don't really need you anymore. I would have loved to have had a visit from you guys back when I could still visit my own home, but now I have these guys" he said as he used his free hand to point at all the silent mutants standing around him. "Thanks to them and all the mutagen we now have access to, you four and your DNA are worthless, so by visiting my lab today, well you're just getting in the way at this point. I'd take care of you myself, but I have better things to do, so I'm going to have these guys beat the shit out of you instead" he said with a devilish grin. "They have these lovely collars around their necks which means that they'll do anything I ask them to. And if they don't, then I'll rob them of the man that gave let them life" he said as he pulled back the trigger to the gun.

The turtles stayed calm as they heard the clicking of the gun, but they knew they had to do something soon. In just a few movements it was going to be either them or the professor and they really didn't like those odds. Donnie was trying to think of a way to break the locks, Raph and Mikey were fighting to break through the cuffs with brute force, and Leo was about to try and play mind games with Sachs as to buy time for his brothers, but each of them was interrupted as once again a miracle happened right before their eyes.

 ***Not much earlier***

After Sam had been updated by the rebels on the balcony and was told that overall the rebels were managing to pull through with the plan, she decided that she should go back to focusing on where Shredder was hiding and luring him towards the roof of the building. She was sticking to this plan for the most part as she walked cautiously down the hallways with her tonfa in hand, but she was also listening closely to her radio in case anyone desperately needed more help. She was about to go and provide help where the breach was located, but once she heard that her friends, both the humans and turtles, had set off in that direction then she knew that they would have plenty of help. As she was about to round the corner of the floor she was on she suddenly heard a soft mumbling sound come from her pocket. She pulled out her walkie talkie and realized that the battery was wearing out and making it more and more difficult to hear what was being said on the other end, so Sam tried turning the volume up a little louder so that she could quickly receive the update.  
 _"Sam?! Sam?! Uh, if you ever get this message, the turtles were lured into a trap! There were some weasels amongst us and we were lied to. We got info that Shredder was in the training room on the 10_ _th_ _floor but it was all a set up! The turtles will need assistance I'm sure!"_ said Kris through the walkie talkie.

It wasn't until Sam had started lowering the volume to the small device that she heard footsteps coming up from behind her.  
As she tried to quickly look around the corner and get a sneak peek at who was heading her way, a large fist nailed her in the face as she went flying backwards into the wall. Now Sam was an extremely tough girl, but she was still human, so this hit really hurt her and caused some serious damage. She fought to stand up even though she felt like she couldn't breathe and that her legs now felt like noodles. She looked up to see not only Hun, but also Karai walking over towards her.  
"You've gotta be kidding me" she mumbled.  
"Awwww no sarcastic remarks? Wow, you must have really hit her hard" Karai said with way too much pep. "Now it's my turn."  
"Save some of the fun for me" Hun said, cracking his knuckles as he walked behind Karai who was now running towards Sam.  
Sam couldn't really feel her legs enough to run, but she knew she needed to move or else Karai would soon be slicing into her with her swords, so she jumped onto a nearby trash can in the hallway and sloppily leaped over Karai. This would have worked in giving the two some space, except for the fact that Hun knew that Sam was hurting and used his size and strength to his advantage. He blocked off the left walkway of the hall and quickly punched Sam again when she stumbled from not being able to run anymore. As she tumbled backwards from the huge force that came with the follow through of the punch, Sam was then kicked by Karai who was now blocking off the right side of the hallway.

It seemed like forever as this pattern of Hun and Karai hurting and then passing the girl back and forth dragged on. Sam hadn't been hit in the face much, but she didn't think she could physically take anymore blows to her mid-section before something within her would break or rupture. Knowing this, she played dead on the floor after Karai had hit for the last time. Sam curled up and coughed as she laid in a ball on the ground. A one-on-one battle between both her and Karai OR between her and Hun wouldn't have been so bad, but taking on both of them at the same time by herself was a million times more difficult than she ever could have imagined. Her sleeve could have aided her in the fight, but it was still charging from the battle where she had protected the turtles from the knock out gas. Because of all this, Sam decided it was time for her final resort. She tried to conceal her movements as she secretly released four tiny liquid capsules from the wrist compartment of her sleeve. She brought her hand up to her mouth as she coughed and then quickly swallowed the four capsules.

"Any last words before we finish you off?" Karai asked mockingly.  
Sam could feel the mutagen kicking in. Not only would it help give her super strength, but it was also a strong match to her DNA, so the mutagen was also helping heal her body. It not only helped enhance her body, but it was also repairing it as the mutagen combined with her cells. Because the dosage was small (compared to if she had taken way more capsules) the enhancement would only last for so long, but that was all Sam needed in order to save herself in this situation.  
Sam slowly pushed herself off the ground as she turned around to face her opponents. Both villains' eyes went wide as they saw Sam's eyes change color, her eyes bright blue with black covering her iris.  
Sam launched her body towards Karai with an incredible amount of force as the two slammed into the wall. Karai blocked her face as Sam started wildly throwing punches at her. Sam was swift, but so was Karai, and the two began quickly began swinging their weapons at each other. The two were moving quickly which made even the slightest attacks become so much more powerful, including when Sam dodged an attack from Karai and then hooked her tonfa around the woman's wrists as she launched her at Hun. Sam then ran up to the man so quickly that he hadn't even realized she moved until he felt the aching from Sam jabbing her tonfa in his face. She then swung her legs down and forced the man to trip backwards as he accidentally pulled Karai down with him. Sam the swung her foot and kicked Karai in the face as she came tumbling down, and Hun had banged his head on the ground as he fell backwards, and with that both of her opponents were now out cold.

Sam then gripped the sides of her head in agony as she fell to her knees. Something was wrong. The mutagen she had used was a strong match to her DNA specifically and it should have mixed well with the rest of her body, so why did she feel this pounding in her head? Maybe her body needed time to adjust to the stronger dosage since this was the most mutagen she had put into her body at one time. She took long deeps breaths until finally she felt like she could breathe and move without any pain. Now that she was in control of her body again and could concentrate, Sam remembered that the turtles were tricked by Sachs and needed her help. She was currently on the 11th floor which meant she wasn't too far away. She darted towards the main stairwell and within seconds ran past a window that overlooked the training room that the turtles were in. Sam took a few steps back and sprinted forward as she punched her way through the glass and leaped down to the floor where she was now standing with her back to the turtles.

 ***Everyone POV***

The turtles were in awe as they saw Sam land in front of them and then get up and move so fast that Sachs never even got a chance to react to what was happening as he lost control of his gun after being picked up and thrown across the room.  
Now that Professor Perry didn't have a gun behind his head for the first time that day, he quickly tried to slide away towards the far side of the room.  
Sam was now staring at the group of Mutanimals that were looking at her from a few steps away.  
The tall wolf came charging at her as he beat his hands on the ground. Sam glared at him as she charged towards him. Suddenly, all the veins in her body could be seen as they lit up in a bright blue color. She then grabbed onto the mutants paw as she flipped him over her shoulder with so much force that he literally went crashing through the floor.  
"Holy shit" Raph whispered, having a hard time believing what he was seeing.  
"Sam…" Mikey choked out. He was scared and concerned about whether she was truly safe or not as the female cougar then beat her hands on the ground and charged towards Sam only to accept the same defeat.  
The larger male turtle and the slimmer female turtle then came charging at Sam from the right. They were able to throw a few punches, but they both met the same defeat as Sam sent them flying into the next room as they crashed through the right wall.  
"What do we do?!" Raph called out. "They're innocent!"  
"SAM! Sachs is down, they're on our side!" Leo exclaimed.  
All four brothers kept yelling out to Sam as she now sent the larger female turtle through the left wall.  
"Why can't she hear us?!" Mikey called out.  
"The blue and black in her eyes means she used more mutagen, but obviously something went wrong and she's lost control!" Donnie shouted.

The brothers couldn't do anything but watch as they saw Sam launch the final mutant, the large alligator, flying through the roof of that room and into the room above them.  
Once all the mutants had been sent out of the room…everything was quiet. Each of the turtles was terrified as they saw Sam calm her breathing and then turn around to face them. They had no idea what she was thinking, and her blank expression didn't help put them at ease either. Sam continued to stare at the turtles as she calmed herself and collected her thoughts, and then, she did something that the turtles hadn't seen in weeks.

She smiled at them.

Sam was now looking over at the turtles from where she was standing and was staring at each of them with a heartfelt and genuine smile on her face. It almost hurt the boys to see this for multiple reasons.

For one, the girl who was now smiling at them so kindly had just used her mutagen induced strength to send six large mutants flying out of the room, so how she had made this quick of an emotional and stable change, they had no idea. The second reason…each of them had come to miss that smile. They never realized how much they had come to take such simple things for granted. They had grown so used to seeing Sam laugh and smile whenever she hung out with them that they never realized how much something so simple would mean so much to them once they finally saw it again after not seeing it for so long. It may have taken certain brothers a longer time to realize that they truly did miss this, but they all felt the pain in the fact that this was the first time Sam had smiled at them after not doing so for such a long period of time.

Sam had only taken two steps towards where the brothers were standing when she sensed something coming towards her. She dodged to the side and then forward as she dodged multiple kunai knives that were thrown at her. She was now standing with her back to Donatello as she saw Tatsu jump down and land where she had just been previously standing.

"You're stupider than I thought" Tatsu said as he glared at the girl.  
"It's called fighting with honor" Sam said with a nasty smirk. "Killing you when you were unconscious would have been the cowardly thing to do."  
"Heh, you can't kill, you're too weak" he replied in a cocky tone.  
"Well then, why don't we make this a day of firsts? " Sam asked as she tucked her tonfa away and switched them out for another weapon. Everyone was shocked as they saw her pull out the pair of sais that belonged to her younger brother.  
Tatsu shot her a strange look. "Since when do you fight with sais? You've never touched a pair since you got here."  
"Like I said, day of firsts" Sam stated as she darted towards Tatsu who was wielding his own sword. Blades clashed as the two fought on the tips of their toes. There was no room for mistakes in this fight or else it would cost the other opponent their life.

The brothers sensed this as they continued to try and free themselves from their electronic handcuffs. They couldn't stand to keep watching Sam participate in all these fights and them just stand there and have to watch her suffer.  
Donnie was growing more and more frustrated than any of them. There was a control box nearby and he could have easily hacked into the system and freed his brothers, but sadly he was caught as well and there was nothing he could do. The material the cuffs were made of was too tough for them to use force to break out of, but what else could they do?!  
"Excuse me, um, do you have a device that would, um let's see, override that system their?" came a timid voice.  
The brothers were all so worried about Sam that they had completely forgotten about the professor who had been glued to his spot along the wall. When had he snuck over to where the turtles were, and how had he done so without any of them noticing?  
"There's a thin device in my right pocket, basically a re-wired DS Light. It has a program that can use codes to override whatever system is used to control these handcuffs" Donnie explained to the man.  
"Ah yes okay. Um, sorry for this" the professor said as he carefully reached into the instructed pocket and pulled out the device.

As Donnie helped instruct the professor on how to work the device, the fight between Sam and Tatsu was still unfolding. For a second, Sam lost control because of the mutagen in her system and for a split second she blacked out as she charged toward Tatsu who made note of this delay. Taking advantage of the moment, he knocked Sam's weapons out of her hand while also jabbing a kunai knife through Sam's hand as payback for earlier.  
"SAM!" the brother's called out.  
"Any last words?" Tatsu asked aloud as Sam was still stumbling a bit while grabbing her wrist from the pain.  
She then paused as all her veins shone bright blue. Sam then stared right at Tatsu and with a wickedly evil grin said "thanks for the knife."  
Sam dashed towards Tatsu, but she was much quicker than before. It was as if any and all previous injuries from the fight couldn't be felt, including where the knife was still in Sam's hand, which she was using to fight Tatsu WHILE it was still in her hand.  
She went to perform a move that was similar to that of a headlock, but she focused more so on digging the knife into the man's shoulder as she performed the move. Tatsu groaned out loud as she shoved his elbow in her side and tried to leap away, but Sam jabbed the knife into Tatsu's back as he went to jump away which now brought him crashing to the floor. Sam took advantage of this as she jumped on top of the man and pinned him to the floor as she now kneeled over top of him.  
"*punch* so, *punch* still think *punch* I can't kill?" Sam called out as she repeatedly punched Tatsu in the face.  
"Sam stop! Come on man you gotta move quicker!" Mikey called out as Professor Perry was finishing up in removing the handcuffs. Mikey could tell that Sam wasn't herself because of the mutagen and that she was about to do something that she knew she'd regret for the rest of her life.  
"You're…weak…you couldn't do this on your own…" Tatsu said, barely. His face had become more purple and blue than tan from the force of the punches. Blood was gushing out his nose and his lips were swollen.  
"At least I was brave enough to sacrifice my body to protect those I care about! *punch* I've used my body as a mutagen experiment in the honor of protecting my family *punch*"  
"Sam STOP!" Leo called out.  
"DON'T DO IT!" Mikey and Raph called out together.  
"…so weak…you can't kill…" Tatsu somehow managed to let slip out right before he passed out.  
Sam paused as she stared down at the man. Finally it was her time to bring some justice back to the world. This man was nothing but a serious criminal who fought only to please one sick man. Tatsu was just as sick as Shredder and would always bring nothing but harm to the world, so what would be the big deal in getting rid of him right here and now?  
Sam carefully removed the kunai knife from her hand and dropped it next to her as she quickly got out some bandage wraps from her bag and tied it around her hand (being able to do so since Tatsu couldn't move from the pain he was in). Once her hand was okay, she picked the knife back up and drew it back almost as if she was about to throw a spear.  
"You want me to show my strength? Don't worry, I won't make the same mistake as earlier. I'll use you…to avenge my family from what your clan has done."

Sam went to smash the knife into the man's throat, but she couldn't since something was physically holding her back. Something was holding onto her so that she couldn't move her arm, and once she realized what was holding her back, she realized that it was more than just a physical barrier that was keeping her from killing the man on the ground in front of her. What was stopping her signaled that after everything that had happened since her joining the Foot wouldn't keep a strain on their friendship. What was stopping her was the realization that she was no longer alone and that she was being watched over and protected just like before the incident. What was stopping her was someone that was now holding her arm back to show that they cared for her enough to prevent her from making a huge mistake that she would never forget. What was stopping her was Raph.

 **Theme:  
Coldplay-Midnight  
Plumb-Don't Deserve You  
Linkin Park-The Little Things Give You Away**

The blue and black colors remained in Sam's eyes, but the color in her veins disappeared as she turned her head around and looked up at Raphael who was looking down at her, his arm still hooked through hers, with a sympathetic look on his face.  
"Put it down Sam, you're better than this" he said calmly.  
The knife slowly dropped out of Sam's hand as Raph slowly helped her stand up, though he wasn't expecting her to lunge forward and hug him in the process. Sam couldn't help herself. She was so shocked and filled with joy with what had just happened. Raph, whom she didn't believe she deserved any type of love and support from, had just stopped her from killing someone, not only for the honor of not killing someone who is no longer able to fight, but also in order to protect Sam from herself. He could have just ignored her like in the past, but on his own free will he chose to help her in a moment when she needed it most.

She then looked up to see Leo and Donnie walking up to her with the same worried expression that Raph had had, and without thinking she quickly walked over towards both of them and swung her arms around each of them individually. She had done this so quickly that none of the three boys had gotten a chance to actually hug her back, though this was also due to their shock in Sam reacting this way, especially since in the weeks leading up to tonight both parties took part in trying to push the other one away, that and Sam had been avoiding them all throughout this night as well.

After she hugged these two she then took a few steps forward as she saw Mikey walking over towards where the rest of the group was standing.

Sam was frozen solid as she stared down at the ground in front of her. She felt her hands starting to shake and she knew it had nothing to do with the mutagen within her system. She used her left hand to grab onto her right arm in order to try and hide the shakiness, but her body as a whole was very lightly shaking as well. She couldn't control this because she was so terrified to face Mikey. She had wronged him and his family and had abused the endless amounts of trust and support he had given her both before and after the incident. It pained her even more to think of him sleeping in her bed as he waited for her to return, of the way he stared at her earlier as he trusted his life in her hands like there had never been any tension between them, how he jumped in front of her and risked his life as he blocked her from all the oncoming bullets from their last group fight. After everything she had done to Mikey and his family, after the way she spoke to all of them, after almost possibly killing Raph, he had STILL been so worried about her and her well-being. How was she supposed to react to that?! She couldn't just go back to acting like things were normal, right? He deserved so much better than that, so much more in a friend and in a sister than that. And Sam, she didn't deserve to have him in her life. She had caused too much harm and stress to the turtles and specifically to Mikey to expect him to ever look at her and treat her the same. Sam had taken a breath and had finally lifted her head up to tell Mikey that she was going to go into hiding and disappear with her brother and forget about everything that had happened within tonight and the past few months, but she was interrupted from a set of arms wrapping themselves around her and pulling her in tight.

No one could see it, but Sam's eyes were huge and wide as Mikey had walked over while she was distracted in her own thoughts and had pulled her into a tight hug. He couldn't wait any longer for her to come to him like she had to his brothers just seconds ago. Not only had he been chasing her all throughout his time in the headquarters building, but he had been waiting for her for weeks since he told her to leave the lair. Ever since that following day he had been waiting for her and waiting for his moment to go after and rescue his friend, so he wasn't letting her run away from him again. Sam didn't know how to react as she let her arms hang by her sides as she just stood still while being held by Michelangelo. How could he do this? How could he still care for her like this?! What had she done to deserve this?!

"You don't have to do anything. It's okay, we all understand now" Mikey said with a soft voice.  
As Sam continued to just stand there and soak in what was happening to her, the other turtles had walked over and began adding their part of the apology.  
Raph was first. "I shouldn't have let my emotions get the best of me, and I regret everything I said about your family" he said softly, hating that he allowed himself to do something so cruel.  
Donnie was next. "We shouldn't have questioned your motives, and we should have trusted you from the beginning" he said with the same soft voice.  
Then came Leo. "We should have gone after you way sooner, and we should have tried to put the pieces together without having to be told the truth from someone else."  
"We shouldn't have let you leave to begin with. We're so sorry Sam, I'm sorry" Mikey said as he continued to hold his friend tightly.

After hearing what the turtles said and how each of them had said it Sam couldn't keep herself from throwing her arms around Mikey and following through with her part of the hug as the blue and black colors from her eyes faded so that her eyes were back to normal. They didn't hate her, they didn't want to get rid of her, and they still cared about her. Obviously things wouldn't go straight back to the way they were before everything bad had happened, but there was hope. There was a chance that they would still want to see her and hangout with her, there was a chance that she hadn't lost the people that brought happiness and 'normality' back into her life and that were her reason and motivation to keep living life and experiencing everything it had to offer.

Mikey smiled as similar thoughts swirled through his head as he held his friend, but his smile soon faded as he felt something wet against her body. He loosened his arms some and saw light bits of red against him palms. He took a few steps back and held up his hands for the girl to see why had had backed away from her.  
"Sam…"  
"That's nothing!" she said quickly, already slowly returning to her old self.  
"Sam…what's wrong?" Mikey asked cautiously.  
"It's nothing I swear" she replied, making it known that she was hiding something.  
"Please don't lie anymore" Raph said softly. Sam turned towards him and could tell that he was saying this genuinely and that he didn't want there to be any more bad blood between them.  
"Alright" she groaned, "but none of you can freak out! Okay?" she asked as she began taking a few steps off to the side so that all the brothers could all see what she was about to do. Sam dropped the back pack she had secured to her and then unzipped the thin long sleeved black jacket she had been wearing. Her back was to the four turtles as she then removed her black short sleeved shirt and then peeled away the tight long sleeved black shirt that was under that so that now up top all she had on was a tight black sports bra that completely covered her chest so that nothing private was exposed.

Mikey could only stare for a split second after seeing the girls back. It was covered in cuts and bruises to the point that you could barely see any of the white from her skin. Each of the many cuts was now bleeding since her body had been hurt from her multiple fights from that night. The cuts seemed like they were actually healing from what had been even worse gashes that were left all along her back. They also saw what seemed to be some burn marks on different spots on her back as well. Mikey quickly turned away, knowing that if he continued to stare at his friend like this then he would lose any and all sense of control that he had within himself not to just start attacking people and acting wildly. Raph bit his lip and Donnie reacted the same way as they felt guilt wash over them. They felt that this was all their fault since they had waited so long to want to come and save Sam. Would she have had to experience any of these wounds if they had come after her sooner? Leo closed his eyes as his mind went to darker areas. These were just the wounds she was exposing on her back. How many more wounds did she have on the outside of her body? Did she have any serious internal injuries? And what about…  
"Sam" Leo choked out, trying not to let emotion get the best of him, but terrified of what the answer would be. "Did you…did they…*sigh*." He was struggling to ask his question because of how hard it was for him just to consider if what he was afraid could have actually happened to the girl.  
Sam turned around to face him since she was confused in what he was asking, and she was shocked to see how each of the turtles looked right now. Mikey was still looking off in the distance, Raph and Donnie were looking down at the ground in guilt. Once the other three brothers sensed what Leo was asking, all four were staring wide eyed with fear towards Sam as they mentally prayed that she would say no.  
It took her a minute, but she finally realized that Leo was asking if she had been raped or molested in any way during her time with the Foot.  
"Oh, no! No! Don't worry that never happened I swear! I mean sadly that happens a few times amongst the Dragons because of how their group is handled and watched over, but that behavior doesn't go unnoticed within the Foot. Shredder is 50 shades of fucked up but to a certain degree he has honor, or at least enough not to let that happen. There was a guy who did that while I was here though and let's just say…well he's literally not alive anymore."  
Loud sighs of relief came from the boys as their expressions softened some.  
"Where did all these other wounds come from?" Donnie asked with concern.  
Sam shook her head. "All that can wait for another time, right now we need to focus on the plan.  
At this time, Professor Perry had walked over and joined up with the group. At this same time, something had caught Raph's eye as he walked out of the room.  
"Hey, you alright doc?" Sam asked the professor to which he smiled at the nickname he was used to some of the teens calling him.  
"I'm alright. I'm glad to see that all of you are doing well" he said with a smile.  
"Thank you for your help" Donnie said to the man.  
"Well it was thanks to your tools that I was able to hack into their system, so thank you for allowing me to help you…"  
"Donatello" he replied with a smile.  
"Oh you'll like him doc, he's a Brainiac like you" Sam called over.  
"I can see that. It's a pleasure to meet all four of you" he said with a bit of excitement in his voice.  
Just then a voice came through the walkie talkie in Sam's pocket. She brought out the device as everyone heard a voice say _"Sam, if you're there, all nonfighters are out of the building. The only ones left are the Mutanimals with Perry, the turtles and you. Well, besides for any other soldiers your crew needs to wrangle up."  
_ Sam clicked the button and said "we're working on getting these last few out. We'll send you updates soon."

Just then, Raph and another voice could be heard shouting at each other from the room next door.  
"No" Sam whispered as she sprinted out of the training room and into a nearby doorway and saw Raph and the giant mutant alligator glaring each other down. They both looked like they were about to throw a punch at each other, at least, that was until Sam ran over and used what remained of her strength power to block both punches at the same time as she then pushed the two apart.  
"What the hell are you two doing?! You both were updated that the other was an ally!" she shouted.  
"He still has a collar on and started throwing punches at me when I walked over to see if he was okay!" Raph called out.  
Sam turned towards the alligator that towered over her.  
"Explain!"  
The gator hung his head in shame. "One of the mutagen capsules around my neck broke as I was helping round up the soldiers. It's slowly wearing off now, but it made me go a bit berserk. I'm terribly sorry" he said as he now looked back up at Raphael.  
"You have to learn to control yourself Leatherhead, you're better than the violent being Shred-head wants you to be" she said as she pulled his head down and rubbed the top of his long snout which definitely helped him in calming down.  
"And you" she said as she turned towards Raph. "What do you say?"  
Raph rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry for trying to fight you after you tried to hurt me."  
"What soldiers are you talking about?" Leo asked as he and the others now entered the room.  
"Oh Sachs was never alone," the professor cut in, "he had soldiers guarding this area the entire time."  
"That's why when we ran at Sam we each signaled as to which direction we wanted her to throw us in. It's a tactic that we all secretly worked on since we're the largest of the Mutanimals and could handle something like that, and she's the only one we could practice with thanks to the mutagen mixed with her sleeve device" Leatherhead added.  
"How does that work? How can you just simply give yourself mutagen and it not mutate you or anything?" Donnie asked Sam.  
"Shredder has been receiving shipments of all different types of mutagen. Each one is so unique and different from the others. Some have chemicals that can mix with peoples DNA in general, and some only match select people. Each one is extremely complicated and has been studied very carefully, and I found some that match me pretty well, but even if it matches with you, each individual person can only handle so much at one time without any type of side effect kicking in. With some people certain mutagen side effects never kick in no matter how much they use, and with others a side effect could kick in within seconds.  
"And you've been storing those capsules in your sleeve right? And I assumed two of your strongest matches have been able to give you wind and strength powers?" the brainy turtle asked.  
Sam nodded. "I missed your nerdiness" she said, receiving a small smile from the turtle.

"Good job kid" came a voice from the doorway as Razhar, carrying Sachs over his shoulder, and the other Mutanimals now entered the room.  
"You remembered our training even with the mutagen taking over, nice job" said the slimmer turtle.  
"Not gonna lie, it took me a second to know whether or not you guys were on my side or not, but the cues helped me realize what was going on" Sam chuckled.  
"Here, these belong to you" the tall wolf said as he and the larger turtle handed their new allies their weapons."  
Each of them thanked the larger mutants before Sam once again took the floor.  
"So update me on whatever news you have" Sam said as she clicked the button on her walkie talkie.  
Now it was the larger male turtle who took the floor. "We rounded up all the soldiers and we're ready to take them outside where they'll wait for the cops to come find them. I'm not sure where Shredder is right now, but we can take the soldiers out while also leading the professor to safety."  
 _"Alright Mutanimals thank you for your help. Once you get outside find the nearest man-hole cover and get below ground. There you'll find the other mutants and some rebel soldiers who will lead you to safety below ground."  
_ "Wait, Jay?" Sam asked into the device.  
 _"That's right! I'm at the parking garage across the street."  
_ "Why are you still anywhere near this place? And wait, how do the Mutanimals already have a safe route?"  
 _"That would be thanks to me"_ said a familiar voice.  
"April?!" the four teen turtles said aloud.  
 _"She's been our eyes on the streets and also helped us map out some spare locations below the sewers where our mutants can hide in safety"_ Jay said.  
 _"Sorry guys, but once I learned the truth about Sam and then learned that Irma was in the same boat then I had to find a way to help out, hehe"_ April said through the link.  
"Please just be careful" Leo sighed, knowing there was nothing they could do at this point.  
 _"Oh! There he is!"_ Jay announced. _"Shredder is on the roof of your building! If you move quickly then you might be able to catch up to him!"  
_ "Until next time guys" Sam said as she nodded towards the Mutanimals.  
"Be careful and take care of yourself" Leatherhead said to the girl as he put a hand on her shoulder.  
"Kick ass kid!" the larger turtle said just before the group left the room with Leatherhead helping carry the professor to safety.

"Alright guys, ready to end this party for good?" Sam asked with a grin.  
"It's about time!" Raph exclaimed.  
"Do we have a plan?" Donnie asked.  
"Knock Shredder off the side of the building, right?" Leo asked. "I think we can handle that."  
 _"Ugh, guys. I have some bad news. Shredder has some type of device in his hand, and from what I remember seeing in the labs, it's a control for some of the bombs we were working on. I think he may have activated it and NO HE'S ESCAPING! I don't know where it connected but he used a grappling hook and is sliding down towards a different building. You guys probably have about 5 minutes so you need to move now!"_ Jay shouted through his walkie talkie.  
"Sam, lead the way!" Leo instructed.  
Sam nodded her head as she sprinted out of the room. She made sure her bag was still attached to her as she led the turtles through the quickest stair wells and hallways that would reach the 15th floor.  
Donnie had set a timer and announced to the group that they had two minutes remaining before something would possibly blow up or detonate based on what Jay hold told them.  
They looked across the street where they saw Jay and April waving their arms on top of the parking garage. Donnie handed each brother a small hand-held grappling gun from his back pockets and they each launched the hook as they hooked onto the railing on the roof of the garage.  
Raph had just jumped from the roof and swung down and across to the other side of the street when four soldiers appeared out of nowhere, each wearing armor similar to what Shredder had worn when battling the turtles months ago.  
"Oh come on" Leo mumbled.  
"Guys no time! We're all going to die if we stay here, fight us later!" Sam shouted at the soldiers.  
"You idiot! The time to fight is now! Now is the time to show that we were the right choices for these prototype suits!" they took turns in shouting to Sam.  
"Okay great Shredder used you to practice setting up an armored army I know about that AWESOME. Now let's go so we can live and fight later!" she called out to them.  
"You fool, the time to fight is now! We don't care if we die here, as long as we please Sensei then our deaths will be worth the honor!"  
Just then Mikey dropped his gun as he threw shuriken stars and then ran forward, using his nunchuks to fight and push back one of the soldiers as he tumbled into the other three.  
"NO! You need to leave now!" Sam said as she pushed him backwards away from the fight. That fast the soldiers were rushing towards them as Sam activated something in her sleeve.  
"20 seconds!" Donnie shouted.  
"You guys go! If the building comes down then I have a way out. Go now!" Sam shouted as she started blocking and throwing punches at the soldiers.  
Mikey would have stayed if it weren't for the look in the girl's eyes that begged him to trust what she said as she fought the four men in front of her.  
He loathed that there was nothing he could do as Mikey walked towards his brothers. He grabbed onto Leo and the remaining three swung over and down towards the garage. That's when Sam heard a boom as the entire building shook.

Sam struggled as the four men towered over top of her and continued to throw punches at her while she blocked her face with her arms. She was in a great deal of pain since she was trying to conceal her gloves powers and was basically being hit over and over by the men on top of her…until the roof began to crumble. Hey eyes turned blue with black dots as pupils as she used as much forced as she could to kick one of the men off of her just as the ground beneath her fell. That was one soldier gone, but the other three were still there as all four of them were now falling. Sam grabbed a kunai knife from her pocket and dug it down one of the men's armor which sent a shock throughout the suit and knocked him out. The other two men grabbed her arms, but Sam then sent a huge gust of air from her palms. This startled the men as they let her go, and before they could react, Sam kicked her legs up into a split in the air, kicking both men far away from her. Now that she was free from having to fight, she could focus on escaping.

Sam aimed her palms downwards as she rocketed herself back up into the sky. As she traveled upwards she twisted and turned to dodge the huge chunks of debris that came from the building. Because only the part of the roof she had been laying on fell before the rest of it, there was still a tall part of the building that was continuously crumbling away. Sam tried to travel straight up as best as she could with the power that she had left, but she also knew that if she used this power for too long then it would eventually give out and she would be falling down along with all the debris.

Since Sam was fighting to escape from the crumbling building she hadn't realized that everyone else across the street had thought ahead and was trying to help her as much as they possibly could with her escape. Jay had known that the railway was completely connected underneath the concrete ledge at the top of the building and had informed the turtles that if they could find a way to pull the railway up as a whole then they could have it stretch out as far as possible so that Sam could use it as a last resort to balance on and walk across. He knew from watching Sam train that her powers only lasted for so long and that she might need help if they ran out to early. Of course, Donatello had some tools that allowed them to quickly break away the concrete (which was also due to the turtles being much stronger than the average human) and after they had dug and broke down so much, altogether along different part of the rail, they pulled up so that it stayed together at the bottom but now could be pushed outward in a solid straight line.  
"There she is!" April called out.  
Everyone looked up as they saw Sam finally reach where the top of the debris was and fly outward. Just as Jay predicted, the blue and black disappeared from Sam's eyes as she dropped down way before she would have been able to reach the garage, but thanks to the extended railway she wasn't falling to her doom. She clung onto the rail for dear life, trying her best not to look down as she did so.  
"Ohhhhh here comes the fun part" Jay muttered.  
"What's wrong?" Leo asked.  
"Sam's terrified of heights. Well, falling from them for that matter."  
"How? She's run with us along higher up places that were even further apart!" Raph exclaimed.  
"Yeah, but I'm sure she was either A. with other people or B. there was something that helped her travel or there were other things to grab onto. Right now she's stranded out there with nothing to hold onto except for the tiny rail beneath her feet" Jay said.  
"So what do we do?" Leo asked. He never knew that Sam had this fear and tried to think back to times where they faced situations similar to this and what was done that kept calm.  
"Don't worry, I got this" Mikey said with confidence as he then climbed up on top of the rail where it was still connected to the roof of the garage.  
"What are you doing?!" Jay asked aloud.  
"Hey Sam!" Mikey called out as he began walking out along the beam, "I have Attack On Titan spoilers!"  
Sam quickly looked up at him as she clung to the beam. Her chest was literally on the beam as her legs and arms were wrapped around the bottom part.  
"If you reveal one detail then I'll kick your ass!" she called over to him.  
"I know what's happening to Tatsumi to!"  
"DO NOT reveal Akame! Ga Kill spoilers either! You know I haven't been watching any of my favorite shows!"  
"I've also seen concept photos of BTS for their War of Hormone music video. You'll never guess what color Rapmonster's hair is."  
"Don't tell me!"  
"It's pink."  
"You dick!"  
"If you don't want me to reveal all the other hair changes then you have to walk this way."  
Sam groaned. "I can'ttttttt."  
"Why not?"  
"Because I'll die!"  
"Pshhh, no you won't!"  
"Yes I will!"  
"You'll die if you look down."  
She tilted her head to the side. "Thanks…" she said dryly.  
He smiled at her as he continued to slowly walk closer to where she was standing. "That means you just have to keep looking up at me. That or I'll keep revealing details about things you've been missing out on" Mikey teased. "Want to know how Guardians of the Galaxy ends? Since the say Donnie streamed it, it cut out at the end."  
Sam slowly started to try and stand up on the beam. "Happy? I'm standing up" she said as she held her hands out to sides to help her keep her balance.  
"Great! Now start walking" Mikey commanded. "Or else I'll tell you what happens to Groot."  
Sam's eyes that were focused on the ground below were now focused on the turtle in front of her as her entire head shot up. "Not my boy!"  
"Oh something happens to him, and I know what it is" Mikey said as he took a step backwards along the beam.  
"No I need to see it!" Sam said as she carefully took a step. "He doesn't die right?"  
"Well I know the answer to that, and if you join me over here then I can tell you!"  
Just then Sam slipped. She was able to fix her footing in time and prevent herself from falling, but now her eyes were glued to the ground as her mind focused on the fact that it was a looooong way down to the bottom if she were to fall. Sam started panicking again as her thoughts were consumed by the fact that there was nothing but this thin and tiny little beam that she was walking on and that if she slipped just a little too far to the side then it was goodbye Sam as she fell to her doom.  
"Sam, look at me" Mikey said. He called out loud enough to get Sam's attention, but he still did so gently.  
Sam looked up her friend who shot her a sympathetic look.  
"You're going to be fine. Just stay focused, okay? The beam is plenty wide enough for you to walk on it. My feet are bigger than yours and I'm walking just fine!" he said as he took another step backwards.  
Sam nodded her head. "So what else have you watched?"  
"Dawn For the Planet of the Apes."  
"Ha! I've already seen that one!"  
"How about the latest episodes of the Walking Dead?"  
"I hate you!"

As the two continued to make their way across the beam, Jay just stood there in shock.  
"Wow…he's actually distracting her…" he stated aloud.  
"They don't call each other best friends just for the fun of it" April said with a smile.  
"Yeah, it's just the first time that I'm actually seeing it up close" he said in amazement.  
"Welcome to our world man" Raph teased.  
"Guys, we have company" Donnie said as he turned his head to the left.  
The others did the same as they watched some soldiers climbing up the side of the building using climbing claws. They then saw a few of them pull something out of the pouches along their chest as Leo feared for the worst.  
"MIKEY WATCH OUT!" he called out, but by then it was too late.

As Sam continued to stare at Mikey as the two walked across the beam, she saw something pierce Mikey. A shuriken star was now sticking out from his left shoulder as another star just grazed past his right calf. Sadly he couldn't help it that he winced from the pain as he then lost his balance and fell to his right and off the beam.  
"Hang on Mikey!" Leo called out as he then leaped over the edge and caught his brother in his arms (luckily Mikey had moved far enough back that he was within reach of his older brother). Donnie then jumped over the edge and grabbed onto his brothers feet as Raph then leaped over and held onto one of Donnie's legs. Because of the angle that Mikey had fallen in, each of the brothers had jumped at a point where they were just a hair too far from being able to grab onto the rail. Raph just missed the bar as he feared that they were all now about to fall to the ground. He was expecting to see his life flash before his eyes as they all journeyed downward, but something unexpected happened.  
While the brothers were all leaping off the roof to grab onto Mikey, Sam had quickly activated some mutagen capsules within her sleeve and had injected them into her veins. She did this as she sprinted along the beam, the adrenaline from needing to save her friends overriding her senses and making her forget where she was as she ran, and then leaped down right along the side of the beam so that her right hand gripped onto the beam as her left hand reached Raph's hand just in time. Once again, her eyes changed color, except this time both her eyes had gone completely black since this time she activated only the mutagen that provided strength. The blue color came from the wind power and the black came from the strength power, the components of each were similar which lead to the mixed colors at times, like when each eye was a different color earlier.

The veins in the girl's arms were bulging as she held onto the beam and also onto Raph. The combined weight of the four turtles was, well, a lot! Sam was struggling to hold onto the bar and keep both the others and herself from falling to the ground that was very far down from where they were.  
"Sam! Can you swing us?" Raph asked aloud.  
Sam fought her hardest to start swinging her body from side to side. It took a few moments, but with the help of the brothers in trying their best to move their bodies along with the momentum, Sam called out in pain as she was finally able to swing the guys up high enough that each of them was able to angle their bodies to where they would land on the roof of the garage.  
"SAM!" Jay screamed as he saw his sister's eyes begin to close. Sam was DEFINETLY pushing her powers to limits that she had never pushed them to before during trainings and it was all taking a huge told on her body. In this case, going from the long time that she used the wind power and now pushing her strength to new limits had pushed a limit as she felt her eyes grow heavy as she passed out on the spot. Her eyes closed, her hand unintentionally loosened its grip from the beam, and Sam began to fall, but she didn't get far. Even before Raph had landed on the roof he had twisted his body so that he was able to see Sam begin to fall and instantly he threw a kunai knife that dug into the fabric of the hood on her sweatshirt and pinned her to the wall.

Jay let out a huge sigh of relief as he saw his sister stay put in her spot along the wall.  
"I owe you, so freaking much. All of you. Holy shit my chest hurts" Jay said as he tried to calm himself down.  
"I wouldn't thank anyone just yet" came a low and raspy voice from behind the group.  
Everyone deadpanned as they saw Shredder standing there with about 20 Foot soldiers behind him.  
"Who are they?" Jay asked in a low tone as he glared at the man who was now in front of him.  
"Humph, did you actually think I would keep all my soldiers in that one building? I kept 95% of them there, but I would never keep everyone within that building. If I had done that, then you would have gotten away with what you did to me tonight."  
"So you had tricks up your sleeve all along" Jay hissed.  
"Of course. Creating a clan the way I was, I knew that eventually someone would try to pull a stunt like this, so I had some of my best soldiers hiding elsewhere. None of the rebels have ever met with the man standing behind me, so no matter what not all of you could turn against me because you didn't even know who everyone was" Shredder said with confidence in his dark tone.  
"Now, to finish the job. Hajime!" Shredder announced as the soldiers behind him ran forward to attack the rebels.  
Raph helped guard April as everyone else dispersed and move to different spots of the roof to try and break up the group of soldiers that they had to fight. Normally a group of thirty soldiers wasn't too much of a challenge, but this fight was different. The soldiers weren't fighting with regular weapons, but rather with the mutagen weapons that were prepared for taking over the city that night. This made things ten times more difficult for the turtles since they weren't exactly sure what the mutagen from each weapon did. They had no idea what damages each chemical would cause which made it difficult to attack offensively. Raph and Leo's opponents had flails with mutagen that oozed out through tiny openings where the spikes were, so these two had to block more than attack since a regular blow from the weapon would cause more damage than usual. Donnie was being chased by some ninjas who had mutagen filled arrows and Mikey was fighting off some ninjas who had more electric whips (apparently powered by mutagen as well) as he used his nunchuks to deflect each shot aimed at him. Jay was fighting with his metal tekko that wrapped around his fists and had three short blades on them. He was holding his own until suddenly Shredder had walked over towards where he was standing and had grabbed him by the neck while he was distracted. Shredder then threw Jay to the ground, and before Jay could react in any way, Shredder had picked up and threw him down again. This pattern continued on until April couldn't stand to just hang back while Jay's body was being smashed into the ground and while everyone else she cared about was fighting a no-win fight as well.  
"SHREDDER!" she shrieked, revealing where Raph had tried to hide her as the fights went on. Now that April was in the open, she was vulnerable and could easily be attacked at any moment. This got everybody on the rooftops attention as everyone paused their fight and looked back and forth between April and Shredder who was holding a bruised Jay Allan Park within his grip. Shredder's armor was much more simple compared to what he had worn months ago, but because Jay had been caught off guard he wasn't able to gain his chance in actually fighting Shredder which was why Shredder had his hand around the man's neck at this very moment.  
"O'Neil…get over here" Shredder commanded. A soldier then walked her over to the leader as the turtles watched with wide eyes, terrified that he would do something rash at any moment.  
Shredder then threw Jay across the roof as his body slammed into the small wall where the door to the roof was.  
April stared up at the man in anger, pissed that he could treat someone so kind the way he had and for the most ridiculous reasons. "What do you want?" she snarled.  
He shot her an evil grin. "I want the turtles to get on their knees. NOW."  
Each of the turtles did as they were instructed, knowing that failing to listen to demands could lead to the death of either April or Jay.  
"Heh, you all are so foolish. I'll give you props for trying, but it doesn't matter since this will be the end for all of you."  
Soldiers quickly surrounded the turtles and Jay who were now all on the ground. Each one had a weapon aimed at their opponent, waiting for the moment that their leader instructed them to shoot or slice.  
Shredder then pulled out a kunai knife and held it up to April's neck as he held her close to him.  
"If only you all used your head and willingly joined the Foot. Each of you has potential, but you're all too stupid to realize what you could be and instead try to fight me. I've been kind to each of you for too long, so this…this is our official last goodb-"  
Shredder was cut off as he heard a noise come from behind him. As he turned around he saw a weak and tired Sam taking her time as she was crawling over the ledge and onto the roof. Shredder made an annoyed face as he threw April down and commanded a soldier to watch over her as he now made his way towards where Sam was. She had been using climbing claws to reach her destination, but Shredder had ripped them away from her as he pulled her forward by the top part of her arm and dropped her on her back in front of him.  
Shredder then picked up the girl by the front of her shirt. "I'm not one for playing old school, but I have some messages for you" he said as he then punched her in the face. "That one is from Karai." He punched her again, "that one is from Hun.  
"YOU BASTARD!" Jay screamed out in anger. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"  
Shredder nodded his head as a soldier kicked him in the side.  
The villain then threw Sam to the ground. "That one is from Sachs."  
"STOP IT!" Jay continued to scream out. He fought to stand up, only to be kicked down on the ground each time. A soldier then sat on the man's back as he held his head back by his hair and then held a knife up to his neck.  
April was in tears from what she watching, and the turtles weren't far from that same state. Mikey had his hands on the sides of his head as he tried to keep calm while the rest of his brothers were clenching their fists as they tried to do the same. They wanted to run forward and help Sam, but doing so could easily be the reason that Shredder slit her through on the spot, and he could easily have the same thing done to April or Jay based on the positions they were in. There was literally nothing they could but kneel here and watch as those that they cared about were beaten around like punching bags.  
Shredder dropped Sam to the ground for the last time as he then began to walk over towards Jay. "I've let you live for way too long, time to end that" he said as he extended the blade on his arm some.  
"*cough, cough* leave him. I'm the one you want. I've been playing you since day one. *cough*" Sam mumbled out.  
Shredder paused and eventually turned around and walked back over towards the girl.  
"You're right" he said as he placed a foot over top Sam's chest. "I was kind enough to let you live four years ago, and what do you do in return? You try to destroy everything I've spent years building up. Everything that was in that building was thanks to my hard work, and within a few hours you managed to crush it, literally." He then began to apply more pressure as he pushed his foot further down on the girl's chest. "I'm not going to be so kind to you and your idiot brother anymore, starting now. I'm going to send you the message that Tatsu was supposed to send you earlier. Any last words?"  
Sam looked up at him and gave a small, weak smile.  
"Your soldiers must really like me or something" she choked out, trying to catch her breath as she spoke.  
Shredder glared down at her. "What?" he growled.  
"Well, they're all looking at me. APRIL!"  
Just like Sam had stated, all the soldiers had been looking at her while Shredder had been hurting her, and because of this, April's guard hadn't realized that there was a small hand-held tessen in her pocket. Jay had informed his sister the day previous that he had prepared the weapon for April in case she would need to defend herself, and now proved that Jay had made an excellent decision in doing so as the woman quickly grabbed her weapon and launched it at Shredder. It pierced into the back of his armor, leading him to take a quick step back, and as soon as he did this, Sam's eyes went blue and black as she swiftly pulled another knife from her pocket and slammed it with all her mutagenic force down through Shredder's foot.

The man called out in pain as his foot was now stuck to the ground, and that fast Sam stood up and punched him in the face. The main goal was just too momentarily escape, and one punch was enough to do that. She also grabbed the fan from his back and launched it at the soldier that was about to hurt April. It cut into his shoulder, and within the second that he winced in pain, April threw a punch and hit him right in the forehead. It hurt her hand all the way down to her arm, but it hurt way less than it would thanks to the guys teaching her how to throw a solid punch.

While this was going on, the boys were all making their escape as well. When Sam had made her move and pinned Shredder's foot to the ground, each of the turtles and Jay took advantage of the stunned soldiers around them. They each quickly knocked the mutagen weapons out of the hands of the soldiers so that they had either broken or had slid away from their holders.  
"NEW PLAN! KEEP THE SOLDIERS AWAY FROM THOSE WEAPONS!" Leo called out. As long as the soldiers couldn't reach their high-teach weapons, then they had to fight with regular ones, and that made a hell of a difference.  
Jay was able to flip the soldier off his back and once he was free, he quickly charged towards Shredder.

Now was when the true battle began.

 ***Leo, Raph, Jay, and April POV***

Raph quickly ran back over to where April was standing as he tried his best to defend her, but now that she had her tessen out she at least had something to help her defend herself if need be.  
Soldiers came barreling towards him, and quickly he came up with a plan. Raph fought defensively so that as soldiers came charging towards him he could try to flip them over his shoulder. He moved up some so that there was a decent amount of space between him and April. This way, when soldiers were tossed backwards, April could land a final blow as she kicked each soldier that landed in front of her.  
"Atta girl!" Raph shouted back to her, proud of the woman who wasn't usually much of a fighter yet was now kicking some major ass.

Leo was fighting off some soldiers (the numbers dwindling quickly now that they could all truly fight their enemies) but stopped once he saw Jay trying his best to fight Shredder on his own. Jay was actually a pretty skilled fighter. He was quick on his feet and was able to dodge each of the Shredder's attacks, but it was obvious that he needed some help in being able to land an attack of his own. Leo rushed over and did his best to aide Jay in his battle. As Jay was pushed backwards, Leo ran around him and quickly brought his katana down against the blades on Shredder's arm. Just as Shredder swung his other arm around to pierce Leo, the turtle had ducked down which know left Shredder open as he was leaning forward into his attack. Jay quickly ran forward and landed a solid punch with his tekko against the man's mask, making a small dent as he did so.

Shredder was a bit taken aback from this attack. "Heh, good job Jay, but you're not good enough."  
Shredder then spun around so fast that Jay was caught off guard as he was kicked in the side and knocked over. Shredder then went to slice his bladed arm down on Jay's face, but Leo cut in and used his katanas to block the attack. As he pulled upwards and brought the Shredder's blades with him, Jay got to his feet and pushed forward as he tried to knock the Shredder off his balance and have him tumble backwards, but Shredder had moved just a second faster and twisted to the side and used Jay's momentum against him as he then grabbed the neck of Jay's shirt as he ran past him, quickly pulled him back, and then brought his elbow down against Jay's chest. As Shredder turned back to face Leo, the turtle was now rushing forward as he used his shoulder to push Shredder backwards. The metal man would have been able to dodge this attack, if it weren't for Jay who jabbed the tekko on his hand into Shredder's calf, and as the man was caught off guard, Leo shoved him backwards as he tumbled off the side of the building now that there was no rail to block his fall. Leo and Jay watched over the side as they watched their enemy fall.

They watched as Shredder flipped open a part of his wrist guard and pressed a button. Suddenly, the man's armor extended along his back so that it was now much thicker like his original suit from months ago. This helped aide his fall as he landed in a parked trash truck on the street, but there was no way he was standing up any time soon after that fall.

Raph and April soon finished up with their group of soldiers and then joined Leo and Jay in looking over the edge and making sure that Shredder wasn't moving from his spot.  
Once he felt that it was safe to look away, Leo turned to Jay.  
"You okay? You took some harsh blows back there."  
Jay turned to smile at the turtle. "Ehhhh I'm definitely going to be sore in the morning, but I'll be fine since I had you helping me. Thank you." Jay then turned towards April. "You're welcome for that by the way" he said playfully as he pointed to the tessen.  
"So, does this mean we get to train the Hogosha?" Leo teased. April was about to respond to him, but she was cut off by Raph.  
"Uhhh guys? Why is Donnie kissing Sam?" he asked in a confused manner.  
All heads turned towards the opposite side of the roof where Sam was lying on her back while Donnie leaned over her with their lips touching.  
"No…" Jay said softly.  
"That's not kissing, that's CPR" Leo stated as his eyes went wide, and all four of them quickly rushed over to find out what the heck was going on.

* **SAM, MIKEY, DONNIE POV***

Now that Donnie didn't have to dodge mutagen filled arrows, it was much easier for him to fight offensively, and he was loving it. He used his speed to maneuver his way throughout the crowd of soldiers as he used his bo staff to his various soldiers as he ran. He was now feeling such an adrenaline rush now that he and his family had the upper hand that he was moving faster than ever before.

Mikey now felt the same way, especially since Sam was now safely fighting by his side. He could tell that she was trying to conserve her powers for the moments when she truly needed them as she fought on with her tonfa. Mikey sensed that there were some soldiers who were trying to escape, so he quickly jolted his right nunchuk in a way that triggered a blade connected by a chain to come out from side, turning the weapon into a chain sickle. He ran after the escapees and swung the chain so that it bound three soldiers together and made them tumble to their feet. By the time they were beginning to untangle themselves and stand up, Mikey had already reached their spot and was now fighting them.

Sam was still in her original spot as she used her tonfa to block attacks from the many soldiers that were now surrounding her. As she was fighting off the many soldiers in front of her, in her peripheral vision she saw one soldier who was hiding off in the distance by himself. Sam flipped one of her opponents over her shoulder and then threw him onto two other nearby soldiers so that she could watch the sneaky man from far off for a few seconds. What she saw was that the soldier had picked up one of the electric whips and was now heading towards Mikey's direction. Sam began to mentally panic as she continued to fight the soldiers in front of her. She knew that if the man used the highest setting on the whip then one blow would lead to a quick death. She fought her hardest to knock out or even to at least push away the soldiers that were surrounding her, and in a final act of desperation her eyes went blue as a tremendous gust of wind came from her entire body, and the force from the wind sent each soldier flying and flailing backwards. She felt a bit weak, but as quickly as she could she rushed over towards where Mikey was standing. He only had about four more soldiers left in front of him, but his back side was completely open.

Sam ran as fast as she could. Her worst fear was about to come true, that her loved ones would get seriously injured because of her, and she couldn't let that happen. Mikey had displayed his love for his sister in so many ways: defending her when his brothers still wanted nothing to do with her in the beginning, being patient in waiting for Sam to talk about her horrid past, waiting in her room for her even after he had told her to stay away, maintaining eye contact and trust when she froze the whip, risking his body to block her when bullets were shot at her, hugging her and comforting her when she was too afraid to speak or even look at him, and just recently walking out across the thin railway in order to help her make her way across to the safety of the roof. Mikey had always been there for her and Sam wouldn't let ANYTHING happen to him, even if it risked her life, and that's exactly what she did.

In order to save the greatest thing that had ever happened to her, Sam ran and pushed Mikey out of the way as the electric whip was about to land on his back as it now hit Sam right in the middle of her chest.  
Mikey had just defeated his four soldiers right before he was pushed, and now his face was filled with fear as he saw Sam get hit behind him.  
"SAM!" he called out as he ran over to the soldier who was still holding the whip, and bashed his fist against his face.  
Donnie had just finished up with his fight and had just seen Sam get hit with the whip as her body now went limp and fell into Mikey's arms.  
"Only…you know the word…to save me…" was all Sam was able to mumble as she started shaking in Mikey's arms. Donnie then joined the two of them and took hold of Sam.  
"Mikey, do you remember what an AED is?"  
"Yeah, inside?" Mikey asked.  
Donnie nodded and Mikey took off towards the doorway in search of an AED somewhere inside.

 **Theme:  
Seven Lions x Illenium x Said The Sky-Rush Over Me (feat. HALIENE)  
Epik High-Spoiler (audio)  
Linkin Park-Leave Out All the Rest**

Donnie quickly and carefully laid Sam down flat on her back as he removed her jacket so that now she was only wearing her thin black t-shirt (she left her gross long sleeved shirt back in the training room).  
He checked her pulse…and realized that there was nothing there.  
He then fixed his hands and began pressing down on Sam's sternum as he began CPR. Donnie was trying to stay calm. He knew what he was doing, but obviously completing CPR in a real situation was different from training and learning the process, and knowing that Sam was basically lying there dead in front of him was making him mentally go insane.  
After 30 compressions, Donnie tilted Sam's head back, opened her mouth, and put his lips over top hers as he checked and made sure he saw her chest go up as he gave her two breaths.

 ***Back to everyone's POV***

"What's happening?!" Jay exclaimed as he was now kneeling right beside Sam's head.  
Leo and Raph were now kneeling across from Donnie as April kneeled down next to him.  
"Her eyes…" April said as she cupped her hands over her mouth as she felt tears start trickling down her cheeks. Sam's eyes were still open, but they were dull and dry. At this moment everyone realized that Sam was already gone and that Donnie was fighting to bring her back.  
"No…" Raph muttered softly.  
"Donnie?" Leo choked out.  
"She was hit by one of those electric whips" Donnie said frantically.  
Jay was now the same as April as he had tears streaming down his face as he watched Donatello fight to bring life back into his sister's body.  
"DON!" Mikey called out as he threw a small blue pack towards his brother.  
Donnie scrambled to get the patches of the AED set up as Jay lifted Sam's shirt up so that the patches could be correctly placed as soon as possible.  
"Clear!" Donnie called out as he pressed the button that sent the chock throughout Sam's body.  
April jumped some as she saw the girl's body lift up some from the shock.

They all waited for movement…only for nothing to happen at all.  
"Again" Jay whispered.  
"Clear" Donnie said as he pressed the button once more.  
Sam gasped for air as some life came back to her eyes. She was able to lift her head up off the ground some which was also a bodily reaction from the shock. From right to left around her was Donnie, April, Mikey, Raph, Leo, and then Jay behind her. Sam could feel her body fading away from her, almost as if she was falling into the floor, and she knew her time would be up soon. Knowing these were her last moments, Sam couldn't help but smile. All around her were the most important people in her life. She was able to make up with the turtles after all the horrible things that happened between them and in these moments their faces showed how much they truly cared about her. She had them and April who had all become her new extended family and were some of the main reasons that she was able to live life again and not just exist from day to day. And then there was Jay, the one piece from her past that made her want to live for the future. She wanted nothing more than to keep him out of harm's way and know that he was safe, and now she knew that he could live his life the way he wanted to since the Foot clan had been broken up.

Sam smiled as these final thoughts swirled around in her head. She was grateful that the final images she would see were the faces of those closest to her, and she prayed that even though she was passing now, that none of them would join her anytime soon and would live long lives instead. She would have loved to been with all of them longer, but her time was now. Her eyes began to close and the smile on her face fell some as she lost control of her body, and within seconds, Sam had passed on.

Jay was sobbing out loud as he cupped his hands around his sister's face. He was now officially alone as his final family member passed away in front of him.  
Donnie covered his eyes with his hands, knowing that tears were about to start streaming from his eyes very soon.  
April already had tear covered cheeks as she grabbed onto Donnie's arm, providing comfort for both him and herself.  
Raph stood up and walked away so that when the tears started streaming down his face, no one would see it.  
Leo fought to catch his breath as he continued to stare down at Sam's body. He kept waiting for her to move, for all this to be fake…but she just continued to lie there, and the mix of sadness and horror that he felt from what he had just witnessed made him feel like there was a lump in his throat.  
Mikey just sat there in disbelief. His best friend, the one that he had cried each night over as he waited for the moment when he would finally get to talk to her again, was motionless and limp in front of him. He kept thinking of something he could do, but there's nothing that could be done to save someone once they had died, right? He kept replaying her words over and over in his head. A word that could save her, what could that mean?! How would that even work? He started clenching his fists together as he struggled to understand what his friend meant and he knew that if he didn't figure it out soon then she would truly be gone for good.

That's when it finally clicked in. A word that only he heard, that only he would know to think of. As soon as the word entered his thoughts then he knew that it had to be what she was talking about. "Cowabunga" he said softly.

Heads snapped as everyone was now glaring over at Mikey.  
Leo closed his eyes in annoyance, trying to pretend that he didn't hear his brother say what he thought he did, but Raph proved this otherwise.  
"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH Y-" he bellowed until her heard a small noise go off.

Everyone was silent as they heard some whirring sounds, almost like a machine was being put to use.  
 _"Voice recognition-"it's your boy Michelangeloooo"-confirmed. Password: Cowabunga, accepted. Injecting mutagen now"_ came a programmed voice from Sam's sleeve.  
Suddenly, the veins throughout Sam's body lit up as mutagen traveled through them. The mutagen was dispersed from her right arm and gradually traveled all throughout her body. As the mutagen worked through its course, the girl's body began to glow more and more, signaling that the mutagen was moving successfully through each vein.

Everyone had backed away and given Sam some space, not sure exactly what to do since none of them knew exactly what was going on, except for Donnie who had a strong guess.  
"This must have been her last resort, to transform her body if that's what was needed to happen" Donnie stated in awe.  
Jay stared down at his sister in astonishment, and then looked over at Mikey.  
"She must have had a voice recording from her phone…but how did you know?" he asked.  
"She knew that Raph hated when I said it, so I only said it in front of her" Mikey mumbled.  
Jay continued to stare at Mikey for a few seconds as he noticed just how upset the turtle was. He knew that all four of the turtles and April were just as upset as Jay was with this entire situation, but he sensed that there was something different as he stared at Mikey who never stopped looking at Sam. Jay then turned back towards his sister as the mutagen had almost filled every vein in her body. The mutagen continued to light up and travel until finally the mutagen reached her heart and brain simultaneously. As soon as the blue had barely even touched these organs, Sam's eyes shot open. Just like when she used smaller doses of the mutagen before, her entire eye shone bright blue with black where her normal brown would be.

Everyone was so shocked about what they were seeing that they were caught completely off guard when a huge gust of wind shot from Sam's body. The gusts were so strong that the turtles went hid behind where the entry way to the roof was. Raph and Mikey had grabbed onto April while Donnie and Leo had grabbed onto Jay so that they, being the weakest of the group, would not fly away with the powerful wind. As they looked back over at Sam as they made their way to their hiding spot, they saw that she had sat up at some point within those past few seconds of them looking away, but she wasn't calm. Sam was on her knees with her hands tightly holding onto the sides of her head. It looked as if she was in agonizing pain, but no one knew what exactly what going on or how to handle what they were seeing.

"Either of you have any idea what's going on?!" Leo shouted to Jay and Donnie since the gusts were making it harder to hear.  
All heads turned as they heard Sam start shrieking non-stop as she continued to stay in her kneeling position.  
Jay started crying again as he witnessed his sister's agony.  
"She's NEVER used that much mutagen before! I know which two matched her DNA extremely well and she probably used those, but I don't know how to handle what's happening because neither she nor anyone else has tested that much of either on anyone! And I was never in the labs so I never studied them the way she did!" Jay shouted through sobs.  
Donnie was about to speak, but that's when he realized the screaming had stopped. Leo, Raph, Donnie, April and Jay all looked over and saw Sam standing on her own two feet as she just stared at the group from where they were hiding. At first she just stared at them, but within seconds her simple stare turned into a furious death glare.  
"What's happening?" April asked in a panic.  
"No one knows what this amount of either mutagen, alone or combined, can do to any person. It could have been a bad match…oh no…"  
"Come on Sam, pull through it, we can't fight you" Leo said softly as he began to clench his fists as he mentally blamed Shredder for all everything that was happening.  
"Uhhhh guys?!" Raph exclaimed.  
Sam was begin to walk over towards where the group was standing, and she did not look happy. Whether the mutagen had changed her mind, whether it lead her to be controlled by someone or something else, whatever the infinite possibilities of what was going on, Sam looked as if she was ready to bash heads in.  
The guys began reaching for their weapons, though they knew they would never harm Sam, but they could at least defend themselves.

Everyone was terrified as Sam got closer and closer to the group, everyone except for Michelangelo of course. Without anyone realizing it, Mikey had slowly and quietly moved from his spot with the group and had been hanging from the side of the building so that no one would notice him, and as soon as he saw Sam start marching over towards his family, he swung himself back up and ran behind her. He hooked his left leg around both of hers as he placed his left foot on top of hers and then used his right leg to squish her legs together and then placed his right foot over top of hers. He then pulled both of her arms back and closed his left hand over top of her wrists as he wrapped his right arm around her chest, squishing her arms to her sides in the process. Of course Sam reacted negatively to this as her screams got louder, but Mikey wasn't ready to give up anytime soon.  
"Sam!" he called out to her, "I know you can hear me! I don't know what's happening to you, but I know that you set all this up for a reason, so fight it! Fight off whatever is hurting you!"  
Sam tried thrashing around in the turtles grasp, but she seemed quite weak. Mikey guessed that either her body couldn't handle the mutagen's powers, or that her mind was so lost from the chemical that she couldn't truly control herself, hence why her thrashing around wasn't as difficult to handle as he had expected.  
Mikey then pulled her upwards so that her head was right in front of his. He leaned in towards her ear and whispered "It doesn't matter what you do, you'll never be able to get rid of me ever again. My family and I are with you until the end Sam, so stop trying to push us away and just let us in. I'm never letting you go Sam, none of us are…"

Maybe it was his words, maybe this was just the right amount of time for the chemicals to spread out and for her body to adjust, but Sam grew weak only moments after Mikey spoke kind words. Her body went limp and her eyes closed. She would have fallen face first onto the ground if it weren't for the fact that someone was holding her with both their arms at that current moment.  
He gently flipped the girl around so that as he held her in his arms, his face was now looking down at hers. He kept waiting for some type of sign as to whether his best friend was okay or not and after what felt like forever, his worries were calmed as Sam slowly opened her eyes and revealed the normal brown color. She blinked a few times as if she was just getting out of bed and then slowly smiled up at the turtle holding her with such care.  
"You…did it…" she managed to say, still a bit groggy and sore from all that had just occurred to her.  
Mikey couldn't help but smile back down at her. He couldn't think of anything to say because his mind was so wrapped up in the millions of thoughts flying around inside his head. Did this mean that Sam was officially safe? What had just happened to her? Would that happen again? Would any other side effects come about over time? Did this shorten Sam's lifespan? Was Sam a mutant now since she had mutagen in her body? Was the mutagen still in her body?  
All these ongoing thoughts were abruptly brought to an end as Jay ran over and screamed "HELL YEAH YOU DID!" and hugged Sam from behind, and by doing so, he squished Sam against Mikey's chest.  
Sam stood there with a blank expression since she didn't really know what to do since she had never been in a situation quite like this this one. Mikey however was laughing and smiling as he and Jay embraced each other in the group hug. The group was then enlarged as the other three brothers all ran over and then surrounded Jay, Sam, and Mikey in a group huge of their own as everyone basically sandwiched Sam in the very middle.  
April was wiping away the last of her tears as she walked over and smiled at the relieved and overjoyed faces of the boys who were happy to have their sister back. Since she was the only person who was watching everything from a further back distance, she was the only that realized that while everyone was participating in the group hug and had their arms wrapped around whoever was next to or in front of them, Mikey's left arm dangled down next to Sam's right as the two were holding hands the entire time the group hug was going on. Assuming it was just an emotional reaction from how close the two were, April decided to take a rain check on bringing this up to either of them and refrained from teasing about it since no one else had seemed to notice this had happened right in front of them. This was mainly because she didn't want to make things awkward for either Mikey or Sam…but in all honesty she hoped that if something was going on here then she would get more chances at seeing something bloom if she didn't bring it up which could bring cute scenes like this to an end, so she pretended to act like she had never seen anything.

"Whoa…" Sam mumbled. Quickly the group hug dispersed so that they could all see what was wrong.  
"I don't feel so good guys" Sam said slowly, and right after the last word left her lips, her eyes closed once again as she fell into a deep sleep.

 ***The next day in the middle of the afternoon***

Sam slowly began to open her eyes as she saw mostly bright white all around her. She slowly began to sit up and realized that she was in a hospital room. At first she was very dazed and confused as she wondered how the heck she ended up in a hospital bed and after a couple of minutes, it was like a flip had been switched as memories from the night previous came flooding through her mind.  
She quickly looked around, trying to see if there were any cameras in the room that would spot her if she tried to sneak out. The first thing on her mind was that she needed to check on the turtles and make sure they were alright. That's when she noticed a pair of navy blue sweat pants sitting on the couch towards the further side of the room. Sam carefully crawled out of the bed and walked over to the couch, surprised that she wasn't anywhere near as sore and in pain as she thought she would be, unless the doctors had drugged her up already which would make a lot of sense based on how many dreadful cuts and bruises she had all over her body.  
On top of the pants was a note that said _"I know you won't listen and wait for someone to come back, so these are for you when you sneak off :P"  
_ A huge smile formed on the girl's face as she quickly put the pants on and snuck through the hallways of the hospital until she had reached a staircase that lead her all the way to the roof of the building.

Once she reached the roof she stood still in the sun for a second, soaking in the sunlight that she hadn't truly felt in so long while she was stuck hiding out in the headquarters building. She then sensed an impatient aura nearby as her smile grew wider and wider.  
"You guys know you didn't have to wait all this time for me to wake up, right?" she asked aloud as she turned around to face the four heads that poked out from the small wall behind the doorway.  
"Eh, there was nothing good on t.v." Raph said with a smirk.  
Sam put her hand over her heart, pretending to feel bashful. "Well, I'm honored that I won the award for being more entertaining than public television."  
"How are you feeling?" Leo asked.  
"Honestly I feel great right now, which I'm shocked at."  
"Jay said they drugged you up real good with the anesthetics" Donnie added.  
"I was wondering that. Hehe in that case, then thank you doctor" Sam said playfully. She then looked over at the youngest of the four brothers and noticed that he was acting completely out of character as he just stood there quietly. Sam walked over to him and spoke to him gently.  
"Hey, you okay?" she asked softly.  
He looked her right in the eyes as he spoke and asked "are you?"  
Sam tried teasing him, thinking that this approach would help him act silly and energetic as usual, but her face revealed where her mind was at and Mikey cut her off before she could reply.  
"Sam…"  
Her expression softened as she went to answer truthfully…only to be cut off by someone who came storming up through the doorway.  
"I KNEW IT! Why can't you be normal and just relax in bed? Why are you so adventurous?" Jay shouted as he fought to catch his breath after running up all the stairs.  
April then came running up as well and was acting the same way. "Hey guys! I never realized how out of shape I was. Wow" she said as she bent over and put her hands on her knees.  
"Hey Jay" the four brothers said in unison.  
"Hey guys, long time no see. This is what my stupid sister does, gives me a heart attack 24/7."  
Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh relax, plus you're the one that left me the pants!"  
"Yeah, because I didn't want you exposing yourself because I knew this would happen. I'm just glad you came straight here like we all expected."  
Sam tilted her head. "We?"  
"We were talking to your brother last night and we deemed as trustworthy, so we gave him lair access as we discussed what would happen when you woke up" Leo said with a smile.  
"Heh, looks like these guys know you as well as I do" Jay said.  
Sam had always hoped that Jay would get the chance to meet the turtles, but she never imagined that it would happen so soon. She wanted to continue relishing on these happy thoughts, but she knew there was more that needed to be discussed.  
"Jay…how many?" Sam asked, her smiling face switching over to a calm and serious one.  
Jay scrunched his eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"  
"You know what mean, how many people…"  
Jay nodded his head as everyone else on the roof top remained silent and calm, now also curious in the topic at hand.  
"Alright, now you have to be prepared for the number I'm about to say since I wasn't expecting it either…0."  
Sam looked back up at her brother, her eyes wide. "What?"  
Jay started laughing in relief. "None, there were no casualties from the rebels or the loyal soldiers and there were no serious injuries either. Sadly about ¼ of our rebels did need to go to the hospital, but not for any life changing injuries. I don't know about how serious injuries were for the loyals, but hey it won't matter much since they will all be rotting in jail."  
"They all got caught?!"  
"Every single one" he stated with pride.  
"So what happens to everyone who escaped?" Raph asked curiously.  
"The police department have a program set up and A LOT of people from political groups within the city are on board with it" Jay replied.  
"How is that possible?"  
"You guys have no idea how many families were affected by the Foot's actions. It wasn't just everyday people on the street who were affected. Shredder had forced lawyers, doctors, all types of people to do various jobs for him, that or people with socioeconomic power, their kids were kidnapped or they had family members injured or killed, all types of crazy situations, so thousands of people throughout the city know about this situation and are fighting to help protect those who need it. All four of you saved the city in ways you can't even imagine."  
The bashful turtles were silent as Sam cut back in.  
"Sooooo what happened to the bad guys?" she asked in excitement.  
Jay spoke softly as he aimed for climatic effect.  
"So Tatsu…IS IN JAIL!"  
"Sachs?"  
"IN JAIL! And guess who the final person who's been locked away is?"  
Everyone was waiting in anticipation, wondering which of the dreaded villains was now rotting away.  
"SHREDDER!"  
Everyone cheered aloud and joked with each other in enjoyment in knowing their dreaded arch enemy was now locked away and for the time being couldn't harm them or anyone else.  
"Wait," Sam started, "so Karai and Hun got away?"  
"Sadly yes, but the police are always on the lookout for them, and I'm also looking into their whereabouts so that I can get the scoop on the story" April said joyfully.  
"What ever happened to the Mutanimals?" Mikey asked.  
"Thanks to April here we were able to find various homes for them throughout the sewers where they're guarding the professor."  
"Why is he with them?" Raph asked.  
"He grew quite attached to all of them, and they all to him. I mean hey, he is the reason they all look the way they do now. That and he's doing research underground with them with all the mutagen that we saved."  
The turtles cringed a bit at this, and Jay sensed the reaction immediately.  
"Don't worry, the Mutanimals are skilled and strong, they can protect him and all the chemicals with him."  
"Why does he want to study all the chemicals in the first place?" Donnie asked.  
"Mainly for medical research for the Mutanimals themselves, but also to see if any of the mutagen or combinations can benefit and save the public in anyway."

Just then, Sam's body started tilting to the side and she would have landed right on the ground if Mikey hadn't caught her before she fell.  
"Sam?" he asked, failing to hide how frantic he was.  
She stood back up as quickly as she could and faced him, though Mikey didn't let go until she was standing on her own two feet for a couple of minutes.  
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I think the anesthetics are starting to wear off some though."  
"Where does it hurt?" Jay asked.  
"Uhhhhh well my back feels like it's on fire, and the rest of my body just feels hot in general, though it's probably from that."  
Jay smiled as he walked over and put his arm around his sister's shoulder.  
"I think it's time we all part ways for the day. Don't worry, you'll see these guys soon enough. We'll both go, okay?"  
Sam shot her brother a huge smile and then aimed that smile over at the four brothers who were now standing in front of her.  
"Thanks again guys, for trusting me in the end. I can't imagine what you guys were going through with the way things went down."  
"We should have treated you better, but hopefully this makes up for it some" Leo said with an apologetic shrug.  
Sam nodded at him, but then she softened her expression.  
"You guys know it's not the end though, right? Karai still has connections to soldiers from Japan and Hun can easily find more thugs to take advantage of, and we still have no idea who Shredder's supplier was and where that person is now."  
The four brothers all looked at one another, and then they all looked at Sam.  
"If any of them decided to come back, then they better be ready for what's coming for them as well. None of us are going anywhere, so it's them who should be ready" Leo stated with confidence.  
"Yeah, for us to KICK THEIR ASS! Nothing stops the green machine!" Mikey called out.  
"Ugh, let's go" Raph said as he pushed her youngest brother and rolled his eyes.  
The turtles said their final goodbyes to their human friends for the day and the remaining human three did the same back as the turtles carefully and quickly made their way down the building and into a darkened alley where they escaped back down underground.

Sam walked with Jay and April back down to the room where Sam would receive her treatment. Her worst fear had now been shoved under the rug. She had worried for so long that the boys would never want to talk to her ever again and that once again she would be lonely, and if anything had happened to Jay then she would have been all alone for who knew how long…but they didn't allow that to happen. After everything that she had said and done to them, all four of them came back and saved her in multiple ways. More than anything she was happy to them all acting as their usual selves, especially Mikey who was finally acting like his usual dorky self as the group made their exit. Sam couldn't wait for when she would get to happily return to the sewers and even greet Sensei with a smile, and she couldn't wait to see what their next adventure would be, but for now, she was just focused on taking her medicine and getting some more sleep.

She had no idea how many more adventures she would experience with the four turtles and her new family of mutants and humans, and she had no idea what else would blossom in the process.

 **OH MY GOD YESSSSSSSS! Finale is complete! Sorry it took so long, unfortunately I couldn't finish this chapter before my mental deadline, aka when classes started up again. It's the middle of week two and I already have so much going on, so this will be the last chapter…for now.**

 **What? You guys didn't think this was the actual ending, did you? If so…hehe, gotcha ;)**

 **This is the finale, but it's just the finale of part one of what I currently have down as a three part series. The third part may get broken up into different parts, but trust me when I say there's A LOT MORE that I want to do with this story.**

 **You know how t.v. shows go on seasonal breaks? Sadly that's what I have to do with this series until classes end -_- But don't worry, I WILL RETURN! Think of this as me preparing for season two lol.**

 **But thank you to those who have been reading my story for so long, and those that were sad about this possibly ending, your comments truly meant the world to me. Thank you to any and all who have read my story and have continued this exciting journey with me, and stayed tuned for when the next chapter is finally released!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.  
**

Chapter #28

 ***Monday, February 2** **nd** **, 2015. 8:00p.m.*  
*Including the month of September, 6 months after the fall of the Foot*  
**

As soon as he heard footsteps, Mikey sat up some from his laid down position on the couch, He was surprised and a huge smile grew on his face as he saw Sam walk through the entry way.  
"Hey!" he called out to her. His smile soon faded as he realized what day it was. "Heyyy!" he said in a somewhat stricter tone. "Why are you here?"  
"Ahhh your welcomes are always so unique and pleasant" she teased in reply.  
Donnie had been sitting at his desk. He was just tinkering with some appliances that needed fixing, so the background noise throughout the lair had been quite comforting. He now swiveled his chair around and stood up to then walk over towards the girl.  
"What's in the bags?" he asked, titling his head to the side.  
Sam closed her eyes as she shot him a huge teeth filled smiled. "Why don't you look and find out?"  
"Why are you here?! Go home!" Raph shouted as he left the dojo and passed by the kitchen to now enter the living room.  
"Dauntless! Perfect timing! Heads up!" Sam called out as she launched one of the four bags at the largest brother.  
He looked down at the bag that was now in his hands, and then looked up at Sam with a perplexed expression. "What's in it?"  
"I dunno, I found yours in the dumpster" she said with a shrug.  
"HA!...oh wait were you joking?" Mikey asked, switching from 'in your face' to an expression of realization.  
Sam laughed. "Yes I'm joking! And where's the oldest?"  
"Back in his room" Mikey said, trying to look into the last two bags that were being held by Sam.  
She brought her hand to her mouth and shouted "LEO!"  
Donnie had taken a seat on the couch, curious as to what was in the bag. Raph shook his head as he sat to the right of Donnie, pushing a laughing Michelangelo out of the way in the process.  
Leo began making his way across the lair to join the rest of the group. Of course the first thing he did was start ridiculing Sam.  
"What are you doing here? You said you had mock AP exams tomorrow morning!"  
"Ugh! Just take your birthday present already. Don't take the fun out of this happy moment" she said as she held one of the bags in front of him until he finally took it.  
He looked at her with a serious look before he walked to sit down. "You better do well on those mock exams or else I'll personally kick your ass" he said with a grin as he pat her shoulder as he walked by and took a seat to the left of Donatello on the couch.  
"Does that mean the last one is for me?" Mikey said, jumping from foot to foot in place and holding his hands together in front of him in excitement.  
Sam had to fight to maintain her nonchalant look. "Was I supposed to get something for you?"  
The turtle pouted. "Dude, so not cool" he said as he crossed his arms and looked away. When he turned his head back a couple seconds later, a smiling Sam was holding the final bag in front of him.  
"*gasp* thank you Sam!" he said as he embraced her for a literal quick second and then sat in the free chair next to the couch.  
Sam laughed. "How can you thank me when you don't even know what it is?"  
He looked up at her as he plopped down in his seat. "Because you know me well enough to know I'll love it."  
"Guess you'll have to open it to find out" she said as she sat criss cross on the coffee table in front of them.

Each of the turtles took out their first gift and were shocked to see that Sam had bought each of them a new piece of clothing.  
"You bought us pants?" Leo asked, grateful but still confused.  
Sam nodded her head in excitement. "Yes. Yes I did. You guys need new clothes."  
"Because that's not insulting" Raph mumbled with a smirk, though he'd be a liar if he said he didn't like the dark gray color.  
Sam put her hands on her knees. "Say Raph, how old were you guys when you started wearing the main clothes you wear now?" she asked with wide questioning eyes.  
Raph squinted his eyes at her. "You've made your point."  
Sam returned to her relaxed position, but now so in a triumphant manner.  
Leo looked at the tags on the inside of the black sweat pants. "How did you know what sizes to buy?"  
"Lucky guess."  
"Really?"  
"Yes. It's definitely not because I measured your waists while you were sleeping on the couch the past few months."  
"Pfft" Donnie quickly covered his mouth and turned his head. He'd never told anyone (and he still never would) that one time he woke up by sensing someone nearby and could tell that it was Sam, but he had kept his eyes closed since he assumed she was trying to plan a prank. He had a hunch now that this is what she was doing.  
"If you guys like them then let me know so I can get more. I know you guys only have so many pairs of the shorts you wear now, so I can get you extras of these if you like them."  
The boys looked at the pants they all received and were shocked at how well Sam had picked pants that each of them was actually interested in wearing. Leo had received a pair of black sweatpants that were decently baggy but still somewhat formfitting. Raph had received a pair of loose dark gray shorts that were of a relatively soft material, and for him this was perfect since he had the largest muscles of his brothers, so the loose and softer shorts actually seemed like a perfect build for him. Donnie had received a pair of cargo pants with plenty of pockets for him to store extra gadgets in. And Mikey had received a pair of black basketball shorts with a bright orange stripe down the sides of each leg.

The boys all moved on to the next gift that was in each of their bags. Leo pulled out a pair of shoes that would seem huge to a normal human being, but to him they seemed to be a perfect size. They were a pair of ninja tabi shoes with the split toe in the front but with a more modern look since they were Adidas brand. They would still have to be altered some, but they looked incredible. The colors were plain and simple with black on top and an orange strap, but to Leo they were more than perfect.  
"Where did you find these?" he asked as he looked up at her in shock.  
"Amazon. That site has literally everything" Sam replied with a nod.  
Raph had begun pulling items out of his bag and was happily surprised at all the protective gear he had received. The turtles usually wore pads and guards on their arms or legs or wherever there was an area where the muscle was overused and could cause damage if something wasn't protecting that area, so Raph had received a left shoulder and left arm guard, knee pads, and a red shin guard.  
"Sorry, I could only get the one in red. The other ones in your size only came in gray. Everything your size seems to favor gray."  
"I'm surprised you were able to find my size" he said as he held the pieces up to where they would go on his body and was shocked that they seemed they would all actually fit.  
Donnie was now gawking at the new tech belt he had just unwrapped.  
"Now you don't have to wear everything all the time."  
Donnie couldn't keep himself from smiling. He felt that at times his endless amounts of gear covering his body kept him back from attacking tougher opponents, and now this belt PLUS all the pockets on the new cargo pants would definitely help him organize where he placed all his gear.  
"No way…" Mikey mumbled.  
Sam turned towards him, and now it was she who couldn't keep herself from smiling as she saw her friend hold up a brand new jacket that was an exact replica of the one that was already around his waist.  
"How did you find this?" he asked in awe.  
"Internet" she said as she pointed her finger at him. "Tis a beautiful thing. I was able to track it down to a store in the mall."  
Mikey was the most fashionable one of his brothers (at least he thought so) which was why he had never followed the samurai styled dress that his brothers had and instead had worn his shorts the way he wanted to and this was also why he wore his jacket around his waist. He had seen people dress like this on t.v. and had become more interested in following this trend that the style his brothers had chosen. When choosing this style, he just wore whichever sweatshirt he could fine that was in decent condition at the time and then continued to wear that sweatshirt for as long as he could. He never imagined that someone would notice how weathered and torn it had become and would then buy him a brand new one with every stitch in place.  
"Wow…thanks Sam" he said as his awed expression soon switched over to an excited smile.

Next, all the boys began opening the next gift in their piles. Donnie and Mikey had pulled out purple and orange colored bandage wraps, and Leo had pulled out a silver colored pack or bandage wraps.  
Sam clapped her hands together. "Sorry, I was trying to find a tougher more durable material, and the brand that got the best reviews didn't have blue. But! I tried to pick the color I thought you'd like best of what was available."  
Leo chuckled. "Silver is fine. It goes well with the blue."  
"Well I see how it is" Raph teased since he could tell by the wrapping that he had not received bandage wraps just like all his brothers.  
"Oh shut up and open your gift you big baby" Sam teased in return as she moved her leg so that she could poke Raph's knee with her foot.  
Raph chuckled as he opened his gift. He then revealed a red glove that was used when practicing throwing punches. He slipped the glove over his right hand and was amazed at how well it fit.  
Leo had continued opening his final gift and discovered he had also received knee pads that were his size (the four had begun outgrowing the multiple pads and guards they had been using, so these gifts were literally perfect for those who got them).  
Raph had unwrapped a box with seatbelt belts. To a normal person this might be an odd gift to gain a surplus of, but because of Raph's size it was difficult to find tougher rope like materials to wrap around his shell and plastron when trying to store weapons to carry, and the material of the belts was plenty tough and sturdy enough.  
Mikey had unpackaged a new backpack that was large enough for him to store his skateboard and other materials in, again so that he was better able to carry weapons and other materials with him when he left the lair.  
Donnie was the last to open his final gift. He opened up a tech kit with rechargeable batteries, jumper cables, a handheld jump box, and multiple portable chargers and charging chords.  
"Sam…" he said as he looked through the kit in shock at all the materials inside of it.  
"I knew you'd like that one. I'm not going to lie, that one was a little more last minute since you had just started setting up the new vacuum you were going to use as your main battery. So now if you need to charge it you can use all of this instead of having to literally wear solar panels all the time and-"  
"How did you afford all of this?" Donnie asked in a concerned tone.  
"Please tell me you didn't pay full price for all of this" Leo said as he looked back at his name brand shoes.  
"Okay one, everything I did buy I bought at awesome sale prices, and I'm insulted that you think I'd be dumb enough to buy name brand things at expensive prices. Like who do you think I am?" she playfully said and acted to be taken aback. "And two, I technically wasn't the only one to buy all this."  
"What does that mean?" Raph asked.  
"Well, I pitched in like 40 bucks because I guess I love you guys" she teased as she rolled her eyes, "but some other people helped pitched in as well. But they each pitched in like 5 bucks."  
"Who are these other people?" Donnie asked.  
"My human friends who were in the Foot clan with me, which is all my human friends except for three. They're all really grateful that you guys helped save all their lives and reunite them with their families, so they pitched in a little. They also helped in getting donations for the devices in your tech kit. Oh but Jay and Brenda pitched in 20 total. Because Jay loves you like you're his brothers. And now that Brenda has met you as his fiancé she also loves you guys, though she saw you as heroes and cared for your safety before that anyway."  
"And they are all-" Leo started.  
"Yes they are all keeping your existence a secret" Sam interrupted. "They hate that they don't get to see you anymore, but they understand and respect that it could be risky to do so."  
Leo smiled and nodded. "Well when you see them all again then you can thank them for us. And adding to that" he said as he put his belongings back in the bag and stood up and walked over towards the girl, "thank you Sam" he said as he hugged the girl.  
The other three brothers followed in pursuit as Donnie then came over and hugged Sam, then Raph, and then Mikey.

"Alright, time to go topside!" Sam announced. "Where's Sensei?"  
"Wait, what? You have exams tomorrow!" Raph bellowed.  
"Yes I know I have exams tomorrow, but I'm not going to miss April's surprise! Now go get Splinter!" Sam announced. The oldest three took the lead in heading out of the lair, but before Mikey could follow them he felt a sharp tug on his bandana just as he was about to exit the lair.  
"Owwww" he groaned as he was pulled backwards.  
"Hold on" Sam said. She looked over his shoulder to make sure that the other three had continued walking on and were no longer within sight.  
"What's wrong?" Mikey asked.  
Sam then reached her hand behind her and pulled out one final package that she had been hiding away in the backpack on her back.  
Mikey looked at her with worry. "Is it something bad? Why can't the others see?"  
Sam chuckled as she shook her head. "Just open it before they come back. Then I'll explain."  
Mikey cautiously opened the package and his jaw dropped as he held up a gold chain.  
"Sam, where did you-"  
"I found a store awhile back that had a good sale. Ever since your necklace broke I've been trying to find something perfect to replace it, and you cannot tell me that THAT is not perfect" she said with a beaming smile.  
"How much?"  
She paused. "How much what?"  
"Cost! Price!"  
"Dude, you never ask someone how much-"  
"I won't wear it unless you tell me" Mikey demanded.  
Sam sighed in defeat. "I bought it for 50 dollars."  
"Sam! I can't wear this! That means you spent…5 plus 4 is 8, so 50 plus 40 means 80 dollars! You should be saving up!"  
"Hey, I've been working overtime so that I could buy that! So I'd be insulted if you didn't wear it! Plus I bought it a while ago so I've saved up plenty since then. If you're really my best friend then you'll keep and wear it...and lie to your brothers and say I got it at a pawn shop for 20 dollars" she said timidly towards the end.  
Mikey sighed in defeat. "You're lucky it's PERFECT!" he said, quickly switching from his serious tone to one of excitement. He'd always wanted something like this, and he still couldn't believe that a gold chain was actually resting along his neck and chest.  
"So you like it?" Sam asked.  
"Are you kidding me? This is amazing! Like I want to be upset you wasted money on this but I can't because I love it!"  
"Hey, spending money on you isn't a waste. It's my first job, spending money on family is the best way to spend it. Especially when your family is also your best friend."  
Mikey couldn't help but smile at his friends words. He threw his arm around Sam's shoulder.  
"Alright, lead the way to wherever this next surprise is."  
And with that the two left the lair and eventually met up with the others before heading to the surface.

 ***About 12 minutes later***

"Where are we?" Leo asked.  
"Follow me and you will find out" Sam state as she began climbing up the ladder to the surface.  
"Well, last time we were in this position we were lead to the inside of the Jumbo Tron, so why not" Donnie said as he began following Mikey (who hadn't questioned what Sam was doing at all and just instantly followed) and then Splinter, Leo, and then Raph climbed the ladder to the surface as well.  
Their spot on the surface was in an alley way. Sam then lead the group out of the alley way as they stood in front of a noodle shop named "24/7" that was at the end of a street filled with other small shops and restaurants that were family owned businesses. Sam walked right up to the front door and the turtles heard her be welcomed by April. The two women then peeked their heads around the corner once they realized they were no longer being followed.  
"Well? Are you going to join us? Or stand there all night?" April joked as she waved for them to walk forward.  
The following 5 moved with caution as they followed the two females into the small restaurant. They recognized the faces of Jay and Brenda sitting at the table and assumed that if all their friends were here then hopefully they were safe…at least until a stranger walked out from the kitchen, then the guys froze and began to mentally panic.  
The man stopped and paused before he spoke. "…Ahh Sam! You finally arrived! These three have been waiting for you and your friends. What took so long?" the older Asian man asked.  
"Sorry Murakami-san, I forgot to give one of my friends one of their gifts, so I accidentally held the rest of the group up hehe" she replied as she rubbed the back of her head.  
The turtles continued to stand frozen in fear, but Splinter sensed something and decided to take a seat.  
"So, what is your reasoning for accepting my sons and I like this my friend?" Splinter asked calmly.  
"Ahh these are your sons? You must be Splinter then. Nice to meet you, my name is Murakami. Your sons helped stop the Foot clan, which means that your sons helped free my daughter" the man said with a smile.  
Leo and Donnie were the next to catch on and realize that the man was wearing his dark black glasses for a reason as they sat down next to their father.  
"What's her name? We might have met her" Leo said.  
"Her name is Lindsey. Her last name is different from mine though. My wife Sana and I changed both of our daughter's last names years ago for various safety reasons."  
"She was the girl you guys heard through the walkie talkies that night" Sam stated as she pulled on Mikey and Raph's arms to get them to finally sit down.  
"Umm….so, he's not going to tell anyone what we look like, right?" Mikey whispered into Sam's ear.  
"Well he can't."  
"Why not?" Raph whispered.  
"Because he's blind. You both whisper really loud" Jay 'whispered' from across the table.  
"How's the wedding planning going?" Leo asked the couple sitting further down at the table while his two brothers were processing what they were just told as they watched the older man get to work and start cooking even though he was blind and couldn't see anything.  
"The wedding party has officially been decided, the church and the hall for the reception have been booked, and all the main guests have been decided. We've also made plans to meet with a catering company to get prices on the dishes they can prepare. Everything else still needs to be called to book a visiting date or we haven't even gotten to it yet" Brenda replied.  
"At least you have until the summer to have everything ready" Raph said as a drink was placed in front of him and everyone else all along the table.  
"Yeah, but that wedding date will be here sooner than you think" April teased.  
Jay squinted his eyes. "Thanks April, because that's what we want to hear" Jay teased.  
"Anytime!" she said as she raised her glass up.

Just then, a square plate was placed in front of everyone sitting at the table.  
"Ohhh yeah! Pizza gyoza! Thanks boss!" Sam said as she took her chopsticks.  
"Oh, so this is where you work?" Mikey asked.  
Sam nodded her head. "Mhmm, and this is the boss I told you about where I said I had friends who loved pizza more than anything which then inspired the heavenly dish in front of you."  
The four turtles and their father looked at the food in front of them, not sure whether to try it or not.  
"Well go on now!" Murakami exclaimed. "I can't thank you for saving my daughter if you don't try the food" he chuckled.  
Each of them picked up their chopsticks, picked up one of the dumplings on their plate, and then slowly took bites of their dumplings. It was obvious that each of them instantly fell in love with the dish, even Splinter who liked pizza but wasn't the biggest fan of it, and quickly they began eating the rest of the dumplings on their plates.  
"Heh, I knew they'd love it" April said as she continued to eat her dish as well. "So Brenda, do you have a dress picked out yet?"  
Brenda shook her head. "I'm trying to find a day where all the women in the bridal party can get together and we can put the order in for my dress and their dresses at the same time, but SOMEONE is always busy with something!" she said as she then turned towards Sam.  
"I don't know who you're talking about" Sam said nonchalantly.  
"Oh? So you don't have soccer, and dance, and a million other clubs and school activities to tend to? Speaking of which, don't you have mock exams tomorrow?"  
"Ughhhhhh why does everyone remember that? It's not even 10p.m. yet like get off my back" Sam groaned.  
"Get used to it. Once summer hits you're going to have a sister who nags as much as your brother" Brenda teased as she leaned onto Jay, who then smiled as he stared at the woman sitting next to him.  
"Ugh, I have two sister figures, six brothers between Jay, these dorks, and Kris, and now I have a father figure *tilts head towards Splinter* and now Irma is more of a mother figure than ever. Somehow my family continues to grow larger and larger."  
"Jeez Sam, you sound so happy" Raph teased as he ate his third round of pizza gyoza along with the rest of his brothers.  
"Eh, I guess so" she teased, receiving playful nudges from Raph and Donnie.

The group continued to talk for a while longer before Leonardo mentioned that he was going to go and walk off the huge meal he had just ate and that he would be back soon. As soon as the turtle left, Splinter began to stare at Sam who was drinking the broth from a small bowl of soup. Sam finished the bowl and placed it on the table as she stood.  
"Don't worry Sensei I'm going. But I wasn't going to waste good food either, that would be an insult to the chef."  
"Hehe, very true my child" he said with a smile as he watched the girl leave the small shop.

Sam walked around to the side of the building where no one could see her, and then faced her palms down as the white part of her eyes turned black and air slowly came out from her palms. She then floated up to the roof of the building. Once she landed, her eyes returned to their normal color as she walked over and took a seat next to Leo.  
"What's going on in your mind fearless?" she asked calmly.  
"*sigh* just thinking."  
"Well stop doing that! Because then you think of negative things from the past, and today should be a happy day!"  
"But it almost wasn't."  
"But it is. I know you're not like normal teenagers, but you should still be excited that it's your 16th birthday. What's there to be so upset about?"  
"That if we hadn't acted when we did then you might not be here to celebrate with us."  
Sam paused for a few minutes. It had been about 6 months since the fall of the Foot clan, yet all four of the turtles still had their moments where they got caught up in thoughts of the past and went into a depressive state.  
"Leo. You know that we all were going through a tough time then. You guys and myself made decisions that we weren't proud of. But if I've learned anything in this life, then it would be that if you don't keep trying to move on and make the future better than what has happened in the past, then what's the point in living? If I continued to get upset about my past, then I never would have moved on and started getting out of the house, and then I never would have met you guys."  
Leo looked over at her and smiled. "Yeah I know. I just, I just hate thinking that everything all of us have now, that was almost ripped away from all of us. And it kills me to think of what could have happened to you, how much worse it could have gotten…"  
"But what you keep forgetting is that you guys DID come after me. Even when I pushed you away you still came after me. That's why I'm here. Every time something went wrong, I was able to make it through to see the next day because you four were there for me when I needed you the most. I also would have made regretful choices if you guys weren't there to protect me."  
"Heh, thank god for Jay as well for helping the three of us open our eyes. I hate to admit that we needed that push, but that push made all of us realize what we were truly feeling and what we wanted to do."  
"He really cares about the four of you guys, and Sensei. He's even more grateful that he was able to reach you that night. You guys help complete his life the same way you helped complete mine. In a weird twisted way, maybe you needed to wait that long to come after me, because that meant Jay had to meet you and talk to you, and then that lead to you all getting to know each other after the fight that night as you were waiting for me to wake up in the hospital."  
"Well, everything has been weird and twisted for all of us, so you might be onto something there" he said with a smile.  
"So, are you ready to go back and celebrate what should be a joyous day now? Since you know, you four being born kind of plays a part in the whole bringing joy to my life and making me happy thing" Sam teased as she put a hand on Leo's shoulder.  
"Yeah, let's go."  
The two stood up and walked over towards the side of the building. There were no ladders or anything to help get back down (Leo had used climbing claws to climb up) so Sam helped him get back down. Her eyes turned black while the iris and pupil or her eyes turned blue as Leo wrapped an arm around her shoulders, the strength power from the mutagen aiding her in holding onto him, as she placed her palms so that they faced the ground as her wind powers allowed her to float back down to the ground. The two then entered the shop where they saw April arguing with Murakami.  
"But Murakami-san, it's not my part of the birthday gift if you don't let me pay you for the food."  
"It's my treat! You can tip 5 dollars, that's all!"  
"You just fed 9 people! That costs way more than 5 dollars!"  
Sam got her phone out and started rapidly texting someone. Leo leaned over her shoulder to look at her phone, and then he quickly realized what he was doing and quickly looked away with pursed lips as Sam playfully shot him a questioning look and turned away. After she received a response, she handed her phone to April who then read the conversation and decided to let Murakami win their verbal battle.

Everyone thanked Murakami who then told everyone they were allowed back at any time, and the group made their way outside.  
"What got you to give up?" Raph asked April.  
"Sam texted Lindsey who said I could pay her the money tomorrow and then she would move that to her father's safe in secret" she said with a beaming smile, feeling triumphant that she would be able to pay the man back for his generous services.  
"You sure are persistent" Jay teased.  
"That's how things get done! It's one of the reasons I got my promotion at work and now cover some of the most major news stories now" she said with pride.  
"What an honor, to know thee April O'Neil. Can I have your autograph?" Sam teased.  
"Nah, you're going to have to earn it."  
"But I'm too lazy" Sam groaned.  
"I don't know whether to laugh or be scared that the laziest person I know is also the strongest person I know" Donnie chuckled.  
"You should be worried, because you never know when I'll go rogue" Sam said as her eyes changed colors. "Or when I'll do this!" she said as she turned and went to slap Raph in the face, but dodged last second. This still freaked the largest turtle out, which then lead him to chase Sam.  
"Aghh, Sam get back here so I can kick your ass!"  
"Um hey! No!" Jay intervened. "She has mock exams tomorrow morning!"  
"Oh, right…so how about tomorrow night then?"  
"Beat her up, do whatever."  
"JAY!" Sam shouted.  
"You were dumb enough to fake slap a 6'5 mutant turtle. If you were going to do that then you must be ready for the consequences."  
"I like your thinking" Raph said as he threw an arm around Jay's shoulder.  
"My brothers are ganging up on me. Best friend!"  
Mikey then playfully jumped in front of Sam and performed awkward ninja kicks. "No one hurts my friend!"  
"Yeah, yeah. Kick her butt and save her and whatever else tomorrow. She needs to go home and sleep so she can be ready for her tests early tomorrow morning" Jay said in a more serious tone.

The group of nine all said their goodbyes to each other and parted ways, knowing they would all meet up again soon.

 **GUESS WHO IS BACK IN BUISNESS!  
Yes, for anyone who is still interested in this series, I am back. I'm so excited to be writing new material again.**

 **I just want to announce now that changes have been made throughout the first 27 chapters though. I had a friend tell me that I should also share my story on other websites, but before I uploaded my chapters onto other websites I re-read and revised each chapter. I mainly did this to correct and spelling errors and things like that, but there are like 2 or 3 major changes that I made that will effect the story in the further future.**

 **If you have an A03, Deviant Art, or Tumblr account then you can read the revised chapters there. Sadly I don't know how to update chapters on this site or else I would have done so. BUT I'm finally writing new material overall, and this is the first chapter of hopefully multiple new chapters during my winter break.**

 **Hope this was worth the wait!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.  
Thank you.** **  
**

Chapter #29

 ***Friday June 5** **th** **, 2015*  
*9 months since the fall of the Foot clan. 4 months since last chapter***

Sam was laying on her back on the top ledges inside the Jumbo Tron. She pulled her phone out and checked the time as she wondered what was taking so long for her friends to arrive. Just as she was looking at the time she saw a figure bounce off the side of the panels of the entry way above and then land on the further side of the squared spaced. Seconds later another figure appeared, extending their bo staff so that it stuck between the two panels of the entry way, allowing himself to swing himself down onto the ledges. The next figure bounced off the sides of the panels just like the first, and then the final figure hooked his katanas between the beams within the panels to swing himself down. Just as the final figure landed, the whistle was blown and the game began.  
"Alright guys! We made it just in time!" Donnie announced as the four lined up around the ledge and watched the game begin below. Raph was the furthest away, then Leo was on his left, then Donnie and then Mikey who stood closest to Sam.  
Sam sat up. "Just made it is right. What took so long?" she asked lazily.  
"Someone came up with a routine that we've never ever used and held us up" Raph said as he glared over at Mikey for a split second before quickly redirecting his attention back to the game below.  
The game was already picking up, and so was the guy's excitement.  
"When I say go, you say Knicks. Go,"  
"Knicks!"  
"GO!"  
"KNICKS!"  
"Go, go!"  
"Shoot the ball!"  
The ball swished through the net and the volume in the stadium rose, and the volume in the small space was even louder as the guys began cheering and dancing around as their team scored the first point of the game.  
Sam couldn't help but laugh at the four dorks in front of her. No matter how much their personalities differed, events like this brought them all together, and it definitely brought their silly sides out.  
"Were you sleeping? You look like you just woke up" Leo stated as he looked back at Sam who was now sitting criss cross in her spot on the upper ledge.  
"Nah, just laying down and getting comfy. Today was my last AP test and my last day of school" she said as she stretched out her arms.  
"I'm still surprised they let you graduate after missing the first three months of school" Raph said as he walked around the space and grabbed the pizza boxes, handing the first slice to Sam who was sitting right by the boxes. He could tell she must be exhausted if she hadn't even reached for the food sitting right next to her.  
"Thanks" she said as she took the slice. "And luckily the New York Foot Survivors organization saved me on that one. They set me up for an incredibly adaptive and accommodating home schooling system that met me both at the hospital for the first two months and then at my apartment for the final month. I still can't believe I was on 'medical leave' for that long though."  
"Well you were hurt pretty bad, and you had a multitude of different wounds, and not just physical" Donnie stated as reached for the pizza boxes that Raph had tossed onto the upper ledge behind Mikey and himself.  
"True. I'm just glad all the hospital visits and meeting with therapists is over. At least it was all easier this time around, that and each individual visit was much quicker than they were in the past" she said with relief. "Plus, now that school is over with, I'm free to hang out with you guys whenever I want to" she said with a huge smile.  
Leo was now walking around the upper ledge. "What are you talking about? You see us plenty, even with all the stuff you have going on. I honestly expected to see you a lot less throughout this year." He then took the slice that Donnie had tossed him as he continued to walk along the top ledge of their space.  
"Pshh I wasn't that busy" Sam teased, waving her hand in front of her.  
This received a quick questioning stare from all four of the brothers.  
"Really? Let's go around and list the events of your life since September 2nd of 2014 up until today June 5th 2015" Leo said with a smirk. "First there was you being hospitalized for two months and overall being out of school for 3 total months."  
"And during and after your hospitalization you were working on classwork and studying for AP tests" Donnie added as he tossed a slice down to Mikey who was sitting on the lower ledge.  
"Then there were all the clubs you joined and had to get updates from through school" Mikey added.  
"Then you had nonstop dance and soccer practices" Raph added.  
"Plus secretly advocating in various ways for the NYFS" Donnie said.  
"Plus senior stuff like the senior vs. junior girl's flag football game and the senior fashion show" Mikey added.  
"Plus you've taken up different odd jobs throughout different times in the year from private soccer lessons to group dance classes for kids as beginners and working for Murakami" Raph added.  
"And to top it off you've been helping with wedding preparations all throughout the year" Leo added.  
Sam squinted at him. "Okay I may have been a litttttttle busy throughout this past year" she said with a smile.  
"Well now's the time to kick back and relax" Donnie said with a smile as he tossed Sam another slice and as he sat on the lower ledge to Mikey's right while Sam was on Mikey's left. "I mean, does it get any better than this?"  
"Yeah man, I wanna be down there" Mikey said, pointing his free hand down towards the large crowd below them.  
"Pshh, you sit your ugly self down there then you'd have people running for their lives" Raph said with a mocking smile.  
Mikey just smiled and 'smoothly' stated "You see me? I look goooood bro."  
"Fellas aye, aye, aye! We got the best seats in the house right here. Anyone can sit down there" Leo said as he hopped down and now stood next to Raph on the lower ledge.  
"We saved the city, we should be on the Jumbo Tron, not in it" Raph replied back in a rough voice.

Just then, the lights all throughout the stadium dimmed and a loud voice came on over the intercom. The voice began talking about the Foot clan and how Shredder was now locked away. The voice then introduced Vern as the cities hero and savior for single-handedly defeating the Shredder as he was then called up for an interview with a female announcer who was standing on the court. During the interview, Vern had stated that he had received help from a few friends in order to take Shredder down.

"*gasp* No way!" Mikey exclaimed as he threw his hands out in front of him in surprised excitement. "He's totally gonna give us props! Here it comes, ohhh here it comes!"  
 _"Thunder, and lightning!"_ Vern announced as he then kissed his biceps.  
"Awwww!" Donnie and Mikey groaned as they threw their heads back in disappointment and stood up while Mikey also waved his arms down towards the ground.  
"What is this?" Raph mumbled as he waved his arms down as well, annoyed at how the man reacted to the question asked.  
Leo noticed this and was slightly irked by the way his brothers were reacting to what had just happened.  
"Guys, you knew we couldn't take credit for bringing down Shredder. Vern's just sticking to the arrangement that we made for him" he reassured. He'd be a liar if he said he wasn't a bit upset with how Vern had just handled that situation, but it also shouldn't have been that big of a deal. They were ninjas and they were mutants, they would always live in the shadows and they should have known and understood that by now.  
"Yeah, well this arrangement has us spending the rest of our lives sitting in the nosebleeds" Raph groaned.  
Sam could sense the wheels turning in Mikey's head as she saw his face light up as he said "speaking of nosebleeds" and then swiftly turned and grabbed something from Donnie's pack.  
Donnie sensed this instantly and quickly walked over behind Mikey.  
"Hey! Hey what did you take?" he said in a worried panic. "Be careful with that, that's my pea shooter!"  
Raph and Leo from the other side of the square, and Sam who was sitting on the ledge behind where Mikey was now all smiled as they saw Mikey crouch down with the pea shooter he had snatched from Donnie.  
"Oh I gotta see this" Raph said as he rushed over and crouched behind the other open space behind his youngest brother. "You got this" he said, encouraging his brother.  
"Head shot. Straight head shot" Mikey said as he tried to focus his shot on the perfect spot. He licked his lips and then blew into the device and within a split second the spit wad within the device had landed a direct hit on Vern's face right in the middle of his interview.  
"OHHHHHH! Got him!" the group of five shouted as they all stood up and threw their arms up in the air.  
"That's my boy!" Sam shouted as she carefully leaped down from the upper ledge and onto Mikey's back. "Best sharp shooter in NYC!"  
"Oh my turn, my turn!" Raph said as he took the device from Mikey and set himself up. Mikey stood behind Raph on his right as Sam crouched down to Raph's left while Leo and Donnie crouched down on the other side of the space off to the right of Mikey.  
"Alright you got this" Mikey said as Raph quickly set up and blew into the device so that once again a spit wad nailed Vern in the face and stuck to his face like glue.

"OHHHHHH!"'s rang throughout the squared space once again as Raph and Mikey jumped up in excitement while throwing their hands up in the air with huge smiles while Leo and Donnie also had huge smiles on their faces as they brought a knuckle to their mouths in shocked excitement. Raph had been so in the zone as he quickly aimed his shot that he hadn't realized Sam was crouched down to his left, so when he and Mikey had jumped up in excitement, Raph completely knocked Sam over to the side to which she almost lost her balance and fell down through the large opening leading down onto the court. Luckily, Raph had grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back in time (and luckily her natural muscles were toned enough that the swift pull didn't hurt like hell) but for a split second she had been facing the bottom of the ground as if she was going to land a solid drop.  
The cheers momentarily stopped as they all witnessed what had just happened and were now waiting for a wide eyed Sam to react.  
Raph cringed as he reached his arms out in a comforting yet defensive manner.  
"Hehe, my bad" he said with an embarrassed and apologetic smile.  
Sam kept her wide eyed expression, but it was more comical than worried now.  
"Well that happened." She tilted her head to the side some. "You good bro? Like, you have any issues you need to bring up?"  
Raph rapidly shook his head. "Nope all is good, perfect, totally fine!"  
The rest of the group chuckled at Raph's reaction and how hasty his change in expression was whenever he did something that could cause harm to one of his family members.

Just then the group heard the announcer make it known that the interview was over as Vern groggily took his seat along the side of the court.  
Sam walked along the top ledge and around the guys as they all jumped to their feet and started flapping their arms (and somehow Donnie had ended with his arms bent like he was a chicken).  
"TAKE THAT FALCON!" the boys shouted as they also began to 'KA-KAW' likes birds in mockery of the man from down below.  
Once the four were done goofing off, Mikey and Raph had turned to their rights and were heading over towards where Sam was now standing as they reached for another slice of pizza. At that same moment, Donnie's turtle com walkie talkie that was attached to his shoulder went off.  
"Hey what's up April?" Donnie asked as he walked over towards the left and away from the group so that he could try to hear April better. The turtle com could be heard from anyone as long as there wasn't a chord attached so that the voice on the other line could only be heard from that ear piece, but it was still difficult to hear if there was too much noise, that or if it wasn't angled in the right direction.  
Mikey's face lit up as he then rushed over and was now glued to Donnie's back.  
"APRIL! Hey what's up April? Oh nothing I've been working out aghh!" Mikey groaned as Donnie had pulled his bo out and extended it so that it zapped Mikey. Donnie had collected and studied some of the mutagenic weapons (the others going to the NYFS) so that the remaining Foot clan members couldn't use them anymore, and in doing so he had found a way to update his bo staff so that it could use electricity as well, but without needing mutagen to do so. At moments like this, he was really glad that he had made the update.

Sam heard her friend groan in pain and instantly her eyes switched over to their blue and black colors without her even realizing they had done so. She was now glaring at an unaware Donnie as she took two steps towards him, again without realizing she was doing so, but before she could move any further Raph had caught on and swung an arm around her and pulled her back.  
"Whoaaa don't worry he's fine!" he said as he pulled Sam back and held her there for a second until her eyes returned to their normal color.  
"…what happened then?" she asked.  
"He was just being stupid and tried chasing after an adult woman who's wayyy out of his league" Raph said with smirk as he looked up and mocked his brother, who scowled at him with a "heyyy" in return.  
Sam nodded her head. "Ahhh got it. Thanks for looking out dauntless" she said as she turned back to smile at him and put her knuckle forward.  
Raph returned the fist bump and then joined back with his other two brothers to keep watching the game.

It still freaked Sam out that there were aspects to these new powers that she had that she still had absolutely no control over and no one else had any clue what to do about them either. Ever since Mikey had saved her and the mutagen from her sleeve had been injected and surged all throughout her body, the mutagen had now become a part of her. The guys would tease her in saying that now she was technically a mutant like them, though she had no problems with this whatsoever. Ever since the mutagen had become a part of her there were now moments like this that neither she nor anyone else could explain. One of these new aspects was that regardless of whether she used the strength or wind powers her eyes always switched over to their blue surrounded by black color. Another new aspect was that whenever she sensed that one of the brothers was in trouble, her powers would kick in and she would instantly feel the need to protect them, almost like she was Bruce Banner going Hulk and had no idea why she was doing so and couldn't refrain from doing so either. It was like she would fall into an unconscious protective state. This had happened a few times. The first time happened when Donnie had lightly burned himself in his lab and for whatever reason Sam's powers kicked in and she literally smashed the device that had burned him without her even realizing she had done so until about thirty seconds later after he had calmed her down. There were other times where Raph was chasing after Mikey because of something stupid that youngest had done to annoy his older brother and Sam had gone off. What was strange was that there were other times where Sam saw this happen and yet nothing was triggered. There was one time she watched Raph and Leo get into a verbal argument and she was set off, but that only happened once and literally every other verbal argument she had observed within the group had never set her off like that one individual argument had. She also trained with the boys as often as she could, and again, nothing during these sessions had ever set her powers off, so it was difficult for any of them to learn from the occurrences to notice any similarities or any patterns. The only thing they had learned so far was that if they intervened immediately after they noticed the change then they had a chance to calm her down and prevent anything serious from happening, and luckily nothing serious had resulted as of now.

"Oh Baxter Stockman."  
The sound of Donnie's voice somehow pulled Sam away from her wandering thoughts, and now her mind was filled with curiosity as she wondered what Donnie and April could be discussing that he had walked off to the side so he could focus on the conversation. Sam sat up on the top ledge behind where the guys were standing as she slipped an ear piece out of her pocket and clicked a button on it that would instantly let her hear what was being said in the conversation as if the phone was right at her ear. At this point, Sam had heard April share some information about Baxter Stockman and how she thought he was now working with the Foot Clan.  
"Shredder. Do you need us there?" Donnie asked.  
"Pshh, Baxter's a softie" Sam muttered aloud, that fast completely forgetting that she was supposed to be acting sneaky and wasn't supposed to be listening, which Donnie made evident as he turned around and shot her an irked slash confused look. Sam shrugged with a smile as Donnie rolled his eyes and turned back around in order to continue focusing on his conversation with April.  
April let out a low laugh on the other line. " _Pretty much what she said. Oh, but you know that birthday present that you made for me?"  
_ "The watch yeah" Donnie replied.  
 _"I want to use it to try and hack into Baxter's emails."  
_ "Okay April but if you want to hack into his accounts you'll need to get close."  
 _"How close?"  
_ "Your watch needs to be within three feet of his device. iPad, iPhone, whatever."  
 _"Got it. Good looking out buddy. Talk to you soon."  
_ Once the phone clicked off Donnie turned around and stared at Sam.  
Sam was sitting up straight with her legs crossed as she shot him a wide smile.  
"How sweet of you too look out buddy. You're just the best" she teased as the turtle walked over and sat next to her, playfully pushing her over (Sam not having the best balance in the way she was sitting) as he spoke to her.  
"I'm sorry, but last time I checked, you said you weren't going to sneak around behind our backs anymore" he questioned with a smile.  
"Oh because intercepting one whole phone call is sooooooo despicable. I'm such a horrible person!" she said as she pushed him back, using just enough force to get him to topple over slightly the same way she just had.  
"You said it, not us" Raph said with a smirk as he turned to face her from his crouched position on the lower ledge.  
Sam responded with a mischievous look. "You know I could easily get revenge on your for knocking me over right now, right?"  
Raph looked at her with a raised brow and stood up to completely face her. "Alright let's go" he said as he cracked his knuckles.  
Sam's eyes went wide and without speaking or hinting at what she was going to do, she rolled backwards and to her left so that she moved behind Donatello and then rolled again so that she was now standing on her feet as she ran around to the other corner of the square…at least that was the plan, but in the midst of sloppily getting to her feet so quickly she had slipped when jumping from the upper to the lower ledge and had fallen onto Mikey. Luckily he was sitting far enough back that this didn't cause anything serious to happen, but of course Leonardo jumped up in a panic.  
"Sam!"  
"Hehe, my bad" she said as she looked up at Leo apologetically. She then turned towards Michelangelo to whom she was still leaning on from the fall. "How you doin?" she said in a lightly exuberant voice, to which her friend rolled his eyes and pushed her back to a position where she could stand back up.  
"Ugh, please be more careful" Leo groaned as his gaze turned back towards the game playing on down below now that the situation was calm and no longer seemed to be a serious matter. Raph had now moved to Leo's right and was in a crouched position with Leo standing up next to him. Donnie was also in a crouched position but was to Leo's left. In order to help Sam stand up, Mikey had scooted forward some so that he was now sitting at the edge of the bottom ledge. In one hand he held a pizza box, in the other he was eating a slice of pizza that he seemed to be enjoying a little too much, though Sam found this hilarious. Sam had walked so that she was now sitting in-between Donnie and Mikey as she also sat on the edge of the bottom ledge.  
"Pshh, I'm always careful" Sam said as she waved away Leo's comment.  
"One of you easily could have fallen after that stunt you just pulled" Leo replied, his eyes faced downwards as he spoke so that he could continue to watch the game.  
"Really? Do you know how skilled the five of us are? What are the odds that one of us would…" Sam's statement began to fade into mumbles as she watched a piece of pizza fall onto the floor of the stadium as she spoke. Everyone then looked up at Mikey with looks of worry and fear as Mikey responded to these looks with one of timidity and embarrassment.  
That quickly, a player from the opposing team had slipped on the piece of pizza that had fallen and before the man's body had even hit the floor the turtles were already on the move and ready to escape from their small space. Sam however couldn't contain her panicked excitement and froze in shock as her jaw dropped and shouted "OHH!" for a split second before Donnie instinctively covered her mouth and basically swooped her up in his arms as he trailed behind his three brothers as they immediately rushed out of and away from their normal spot which would no longer be seen as so.  
Once they reached the beams above, Donnie placed Sam down as the two rushed after the others and caught up within seconds.

The entire group traveled in speedy silence for the longest time as they ran and then climbed to the vent-way that lead to the roof and then traveled downwards along the side of the building (which they could do now since there were no crowds nearby with people that could see them) which lead them to a manhole that lead that back to their safety zone of the sewers below the surface. Once the group had been running for a couple of minutes underground, Donnie felt that the others probably felt a little calmer and could actually breathe again (which was how he was feeling right now) so he tried to start some type of conversation so that the run wasn't completely and awkwardly dead silent in attempts at easing the tension from before.  
"Well that was a close call" Donnie called out from the front of the group where he was running.  
Mikey was using his skateboard to pick up speed as he launched himself overtop of Donnie and grinded along a rail that was higher above where everyone was running. He then jumped over to the next rail but then kept his feet planted as he looked up through a sewer drain opening.  
"Now we have to find a new spot to watch the game now Mikey…MIKEY!" Raph shouted after he almost collided with Donnie who had almost collided with Mikey who had completely stopped in front of the continuously moving group. The three brothers skid to a stop and walked back over toward the youngest when they realized that he was completely distracted and was no longer moving.  
"Mikey, what're you doing?" Raph asked gently. At this point all the older turtles and Sam were now standing around Mikey as he looked up in astonishment at the sights in front of him.  
"It's the Halloween parade bro. I always wanted to be in the Halloween parade. It's like the one night of the year where we actually fit in" he said as his excited expression faded into a gloomier one.  
"Mikey, we'll never fit in" Leo stated in a solemn tone, but trying to switch over to a more light-hearted tone as he added "we're ninjas, we live in the shadow. Let's go." He then patted his brother's shoulder as he led the way and began running away. Raph followed and Donnie looked towards his younger brother and nodded his head to the side in a silent way of signaling that all was okay as he also tailed his older brothers. Mikey looked up one last time and then sighed, but before he began to run, he looked to his left and saw that Sam hadn't moved yet and was just staring at him.  
He squinted his eyes at her. "What are you thinking?"  
Sam just shrugged her shoulders, not speaking and not displaying any real emotion. The only expression she displayed was raised brows and pursed lips as she shrugged.  
Mikey nodded his head at her. "…blend in. I should blend in with my surroundings in the light, just like a ninja hiding in the shadows." He began to smile as he faced his friend once more and patted her on the shoulder. "Thanks Sam" he said as he then found a way to lift himself up onto the surface.  
Sam smiled as she watched her friend raise himself up out of the sewers and into the crowded streets. "Glad I could help." And with that she began jogging so that she could catch up with the others.

Just as she caught up to the group who was now walking, she heard Leo ask a question. She paused in place, not sure what to do.  
The three brothers stopped walking and paused, realizing that it had been awfully quiet behind them for far too long. They all turned around to see Sam staring at them, all by herself.  
"Sam, where's Mikey?"  
Sam stood there with her mouth open, feeling ridiculously unprepared, and disappointed in herself because of this.  
"Usually I'm good at this but I'm failing miserably" she eventually was able to spill out as she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.  
Raph happened to look up at saw his brother talking to a man dressed in a Transformers based costume in the middle of the street.  
"Are you kidding me?" All the brothers ironically stated at the same time. Leo saw that Mikey had begun to walk again and ran over to where the next manhole cover was located. He lifted it and called out to Mikey…only to have him jump down onto the cover that Leo was holding as it also pushed him back down.  
Sam's jaw dropped. She wanted Mikey to gain some confidence in himself and gain the freedom and pride in being who he was by blending in with the people of the city, but she never expected him to react that way to seeing Leo.  
"I didn't tell him to do that!" Sam said as she frantically pointed back and forth from the manhole cover above to where Leo had landed.  
Leo looked over at Sam irately in a way that Sam hadn't seen in a long time, not since that incident last year. This threw her off as she stared in his direction but then looked downwards towards his feet, feeling a mix of emotions after being stared at the way she had. Leo sensed this and withdrew from this stare immediately, but he was still pissed at what had just happened and at how Sam had disrespected his instructions as both the leader and the oldest brother to his youngest brother and most vulnerable teammate.  
"Sam?" Donnie asked in concern, which also lead to Leo softening his expression some.  
 _"New York in the houseeeeeeeeee!"_ Mikey shouted out from above.  
"Ughhh" Raph said as he rolled his eyes. "Where the hell did he get to?" he asked as he stormed off in pursuit of forcing his brother back underground, unlike the way Leo had gently tried to coerce him to come back down a minute ago.  
The sound of Mikey's voice had pulled Sam out of her funk as she also looked up towards the roof above them which lead to the city streets.  
"Sam, you good?" Leo asked in a softer tone.  
She then looked over at him and with a blank expression as she nodded at him.  
"Good" he said, the strictness returning to his voice but not as strongly as before. "Because we're going to have some words when we get home later."  
Still somewhat phased, Sam nodded her head and replied with a soft "yeah", the only thing she could think to respond with. What the hell was wrong with her right now?

Mikey being forcefully pulled down into the sewers by Raph somehow officially broke her from this lost and dazed mindset as the group now stared at the returned turtle in front of them.  
"That was the most amazing thing ever" he said with wide eyes and a huge smile on his face.  
"What part of ninjas move in the shadows don't you understand?" Raph snarled as he glared at his younger brother.  
Donnie heard his turtle com ring and answered the call as he took a step off to the side.  
"April, how'd it go?" he asked.  
Sam made it obvious that she was back to normal (as normal as she could get that is) as she walked over and held onto his arm as she listened to what April had to say, almost like his arm was the phone itself. He couldn't help but grin at the girl and her dorky antics as he pulled his arm away from her as he also listened and responded to April.  
"Hey you got in. What did you find?"  
 _"Hold on, the files are erasing. It's some sort of self-destruct program."  
_ "Erasing?" Donnie questioned.  
His brothers could tell that this was now a more serious conversation, so they all kept quiet so that they could do their best to listen in, but more so that they didn't break Donnie's concentration and thoughts as well.  
 _"Before they started erasing I had a chance to read a couple of Baxter's emails and I was right. Baxter is working with the Foot clan. Shredder is being transported to a prison in upstate New York tonight and the Foot clan are planning on hitting the convoy."  
_ Donnie's face displayed how worried he was about what he had just heard.  
"They're gonna break him out of police custody. He'll be free again" he stated, his voice slightly raising as he spoke.  
"Who Donnie?" Leo asked.  
Donnie turned to face the group, his worry evident in his eyes. "Shredder."

Then and there, each of the five looked at each other and nodded. They knew their 'relaxation' time was up and that now, as sudden as it was, now was the time to continue on with their fight against the Shredder, and they quickly worked together to form a plan as to how they would stop the devilish criminal from escaping.

 **If anyone thinks that these chapters are ridiculously short, I'm so very sorry. I only have a little over a month before I have to go back to college, so my hopes are that if I break this section of the story up into quicker sections then maybe I can get more chapters uploaded quicker than if I tried to write really long chapters that I would then also have to go back and re-read before uploading.**

 **But I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Constructive criticism in always appreciated and extremely helpful :)**


	30. Chapter 30

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

 **Also, as I was planning out this next chapter, I realized that I made my chapter take place at the beginning of June…and Mikey went to the Halloween parade. We're just going to pretend that it's normal for a random Halloween parade to be held in the streets of N.Y. in the beginning of the summer xD**

Chapter #30

 ***Still June 5** **th** **, 2015*  
*Still in the sewers right after Donnie just gains information about Shredder being broken out of prison***

As soon as Leo heard the name, he instantly thought of Sam. He looked at her with concern and was shocked at how much his and her expressions differed. While he looked worried at how she would react, she looked determined and confident.  
"Sam? You up for this?" he asked gently.  
Sam smirked as she looked in his direction. "We took him down…twice" she said with raised brows, momentarily forgetting that the guys had fought Shredder before she had even met them, "so this time will be the bonus round. Where do you need me?"  
"Eyes in the sky" Leo said with a confident smile as he and the rest of his brothers were now getting pumped up.  
Sam nodded her head and then looked at Donnie. "Drone?"  
"Already on it" Donnie replied as he was rummaging through the belongings in the pack on his back. He then pulled out a small drone where the legs were already folded so that it was easier to carry around. He handed this and the controller to Sam.  
"Use this to check out anything up ahead or coming from behind, that way we can focus on Shredder. If the Foot already begin attacking then it's no point in you hiding, then you can come back and join us. But for now find one of your usual hiding spots and stay low."  
"In this case high" she teased, since her spot would be up on a hill so she had accurate visual access to the highway they would be traveling on.  
"Whatever" he said playfully.  
"Alright, everyone keep in touch and we're on the move. Sam that means make sure you can easily hear and reach your turtle com!" Leo said as the four turtles dashed off in one direction.  
"Yeah yeah I know!" Sam groaned out loud.  
She quickly pulled a solid black t-shirt over top the one she was wearing and without ever actually stripping she switched shirts (times like these were the only times she ever actually changed her clothes quickly). She then pulled on a solid black beanie and put on a solid black surgical mask. She used to use wigs and contacts to help mask her identity as well, but she had donated her wigs to those who had lost their hair to human trials from being forced into the Foot clan, and for whatever reason, ever since the mutagen that saved her life had fused with her body, contacts just irritated the hell out of her eyes. Because of all of this, Sam just did the best to wear solid colors that didn't reveal anything about her personality and what her interests or beliefs were while also doing the best to cover her body as best as she could so that the only thing that was revealed about herself was that she was a white woman with brown hair and brown eyes. Once she had done all of this within a couple of minutes, Sam then dashed off down the tunnels of the sewers in the direction that she needed to go to reach her hiding spot.

 ***About 5 minutes later***

Sam had reached her spot up on top of the hill. This particular spot was high up and back enough that the street lights missed it, so the majority of the hill was brightened up towards the bottom, but at the top it was rather dark, so wearing black clothes up here made it even easier to blend in and hide away from spying eyes. She then crouched down and removed the drone from her trusty backpack, her most favorite bag, and quickly set it up and started flying it up and down the highway to try and get a good look at what was happening. Just a few seconds later she heard a familiar voice call out to her.  
 _"Sam, can you hear me?"  
_ Sam grabbed the round walkie talkie, aka the turtle com, from her pocket and made sure to respond as soon as possible. "Yeah Leo I'm here."  
 _"We're in the truck now and we're heading out" Leo added.  
_ Sam then heard 'whoa', 'dude', 'what?', 'are you kidding me?' coming from Raph and Mikey from what sounded to be further back, so she assumed those two were seated towards the back of the truck and that Leo was in the passenger seat, and she already knew that Donnie would be sitting in the driver's seat.  
"Heh" Sam smirked, "Sounds like the guys in the back like your creation Dorkatello" the girl said in a proud but still playful tone towards her incredibly intelligent friend.  
 _"Yeah but I'm telling you it'll be even better once it's finally done. There's a lot of tweaking still required."  
"Well no better time than the present" _Leo said.  
 _"Yeah but see all these wires are still bunched up here. There's no organization to any of it! There's red wires and yellow wires-"  
"Donnie…" _Leo attempted to intervene.  
 _"-and as you can see the spot-welding's not done yet and the seats don't recline when-"  
"Donnie!"  
_"Leo hit the red switch up top" Sam stated through her turtle com, assuming that Donnie wasn't paying attention to the moving vehicle based on the worry she heard in Leo's voice.  
 _"What red switch?"_  
 _"Red…oh!"_ Donnie said.  
Sam assumed that he finally flipped the switch and that all was okay since Leo had finally stopped announcing his brother's name.

 _"Alright, Shredder's convoy is 7.2 miles East Northeast. Punch it. Sam, keep us updated as best as you can"_ Leo ordered.  
"On it."  
Sam got out her tablet that she used as her main GPS system and then continued to use the remote control for the drone, which had a small screen on it to observe what was being picked up by the camera, so that she could continue to watch where the transport van was located and where it was heading to next. She also got out her hacking phone so that she could hack into nearby street cameras and check around to see if anything suspicious was happening nearby and on the way towards the police van. Within a matter of minutes she was able to locate the van and continued to the track what street they were on and could update the turtles if anything unexpected happened.

At this point the main conversations being held in the truck were the brothers asking Donnie questions about different gadgets and other pieces of tech that were on display, so Sam decided that for now she could put her turtle com down and that it didn't need to stay on permanently. She laid the small device down on the ground and went back to focusing on the other devices in her hands: the remote control for the drone, the phone used for hacking the street cameras, and the tablet with the GPS system.  
As Sam followed through with her part of the plan, her mind simultaneously reflected on what had become of the Foot clan within the past almost year since the majority of the New York branch had fallen since September 2nd of 2014. Now that Shredder was locked up, Karai had been known to be taking charge and was leading both any dedicated and completely brainwashed and lost NY soldiers along with the many soldiers who had come from the Japanese branch. She had called in for a few more soldiers from the home branch to assist her, and according to intel from April and others from the NYFS organization, these soldiers were more than happy to assist Karai in rebuilding their Master Shredder's empire. This group then forced gangs like the Purple Dragons to do their dirty work for them, which Hun still helped greatly in that department, and then (in hopes of impressing her sensei) Karai decided to try a new tactic in recruiting brains for their clan. Instead of using force and intimidation, she would trick the gullible scientists by leading them to engulf themselves in their pride of their work as motivation to work for the Foot clan and would then use accounts set up by Sachs to fund them and provide them with needed tech to complete their work for the clan. This is where Baxter Stockman came in. No matter how successful he was and how many awards he had claimed for his accomplishments in so many different departments, because of how he was raised by his parents he never thought that he was as good as his brother, so when he was asked to come work for the Foot clan he took that as an honor. He knew people would try to get him to leave (since this was similar to the situation that scientists like Jordon Perry were put into when they thought it was an honor to work for Eric Sachs) so he did his best to hide this information from the rest of the world and let Karai and other Foot clan members sneak into his laboratory, like on nights like tonight, so that they could work together on various projects.  
They still had a long way to go, but Karai was fighting her hardest to rebuild the fallen clan, and Sam was hoping that tonight they would squash those attempts before they grew into anything more than simply that, attempts.

Just then, Sam saw some sketchy looking motorcyclists driving down a side street and then turn onto an exit leading towards the highway. She then checked back to the drone's screen and saw that the exit she had just seen would quickly lead to the section of the highway where the police van was currently located.  
"Donnie what's your location?"  
 _"Passing through Eastman and Laird Street now, why?"  
_ Sam quickly moved the screen around on her tablet.  
"Take Manor Street coming up in a couple minutes. It'll be a tight road but it'll get you to your location quicker. I suspect we already have company coming up."  
 _"Alright, keep us posted Sam"_ Leo stated.  
Sam nodded to herself as she continued to maintain the three devices in front of her. She then saw the sketchy cyclists take another exit and a chill went down her spine when she saw them drive through a grassy area and back onto the highway, giving them about a five minute time gap before they would hit the police van. Sam started rapidly packing up her belongings and drew the drone back over to her, all while communicating to the turtles through the turtle com.  
"Five minutes."  
 _"What?"  
_ Within one breath Sam somehow announced that "Five minutes is all you have cause the sketchy dudes took an exit off the highway and then illegally cut through to another section of the highway rather than taking the long and full way through and now they're close to the police van and-"  
 _"Whoa Sam breath"_ Raph announced from further back.  
 _"Are they all still on route 33?"_ Donnie asked.  
"Yes, that was the last place I saw them and I'm sure they won't get much further. I'm heading there now."  
 _"Sam!"_ Leo called out in a stern tone.  
"Leo those guys are going to get hurt if one of us doesn't get there in a matter of minutes and I'm not going to sit back and just watch it happen" Sam said as she finished collapsing the drone and packing it away in her backpack.  
She heard a sigh come through the other line before she finally heard Leo say _"fine, but be careful and stay in the shadows as best as you can and for as long as you can. Don't make any serious moves without us there."  
_ "Got it. Meet you guys there."

Sam then turned off the turtle com and hooked it into its spot on her backpack strap. Her eyes went blue and black as she used her wind powers to help boost herself over towards where she needed to be. Using her wind powers she was able to shoot huge gusts of wind from her palms (sometimes she could shoot gusts from her whole body or other select parts, but she didn't know how to control these actions just yet) and had now gained enough control that she could use this power to fly around like Iron Man. As awesome as this was, she had no idea if there were any limits as to how much or how long she could use any of these powers, so she tried to only use them in dire situations, and she deemed this situation as extremely important since innocent lives were at risk once those Foot soldiers caught up with those police cars. The highway was surrounded by a wall on both sides of the road, so luckily she could use her powers without being seen. Once she reached her destination she launched herself over the wall, but she was just a second too late. Just as she reached the top of the wall she saw the black cyclists drive by and place what seemed to be orange colored oval devices on each of the black police cars as they then zoomed away.

"Oh shit…" was all Sam was able to even process through her mind as she saw the orange lights switch to red as the three cars in the back jumped up from the explosions underneath of them. Huge flames burst from under the cars as each of the three flipped onto their sides or tops. Before Sam could even move and react to go tend to the wounded officers, the remaining three cop cars that had been driving in front of the larger police van now faced the same fate as they were launched upwards from their explosions and then violently tumbled forward, only this time the situation was even worse because the police van was going so fast that it couldn't easily be stopped, and unintentionally it collided with two of the attacked cars.  
Sam took a few seconds to compose herself. She hadn't seen anyone terribly injured since her days in the clan, so quickly she needed to mentally prepare herself for what she might see. She began to clench her fists together as her thoughts switched from what she was afraid to see to what she needed to do, and finally she opened her eyes and once the coast was clear she darted out and carefully tried removing officers from their vehicles. At moments like these she was grateful that the mutagen had positively blended with her body and aided her strength, because her natural muscle alone would not have been able to help her move these officers with the muscular builds they had. She made sure to watch their necks, since her making careless moves could easily break their spines if any damage had been caused to the area. She also tried to watch out for any serious lacerations since accidentally pushing or pulling those could also cause some serious damage. Luckily none of the officers had been impaled with anything, but each of them had some serious cuts on their heads.

Just then Sam sensed something coming up quick and looked up to see Donnie and Leo sitting in the front seats of their truck. Sam nodded to them as they quickly drove by. Good, the turtles were closing in on the attack up ahead. Once Sam had then removed all the officers from their cars, she then pushed all the cars so that they were in a further down spot and blocking anyone from driving down that road any further. She then made sure to carefully maneuver the beings so that they were in a medically supported position on their sides so that they if they threw up or even if blood was in their system it wouldn't build up and make them drown just from laying on their backs. Shen finished her work by bandaging up any visible and serious cuts. As she did this, Sam wondered if this should have been her first move in case there were any officers who had serious enough wounds where they could bleed out, but her panicked thoughts were interrupted by someone shouting to her: "hey you!"  
She held onto the belongings that she had been packing up and now slowly turned around to see that one of the officers who had been lying on the ground was now conscious and aiming his gun towards her.  
"Okay dude, my hands are up, and all I've done is help protect your men."  
"You're dressed in black just like them, I don't trust you-"  
"Hold up" a voice groaned.  
Sam and the officer turned to see that another younger officer had awoken and was now carefully sitting up on the ground. "State your code" he demanded.  
"SAP3 sir" Sam responded.  
The man's eyes widened a bit as he then looked up at her. "You're free to go."  
"Thank you sir, I was never here." Sam then turned around and once again her eyes changed colors as she dashed off in the direction that the car chase was heading towards. She wasn't sure exactly who that officer was, but there were connections everywhere and obviously he knew of her code name, so hopefully she was safe for now.

As Sam ran at the highest speed her legs could carry her, she noticed things in the road that gave her an idea of how the fight had gone so far. The first thing she noticed was that there were a bunch of manhole covers lying about in the road, so she assumed that one of the many new launchers that had been installed had officially been tested out. A smile grew on her face under her surgical mask as she ran by some smashed up vehicles that she assumed were used by the Foot (they must have gotten on using a different exit since she had never seen them on any of her devices earlier on) but this expression quickly turned into one of slight irritation as she ran under a small bridge and saw what she assumed were smashed and broken up pieces of the giant nunchuks that were a recent addition built from Donnie. Oh well, he had a million other things he wanted to fix up, both for the truck and in general, so it would be a decently long while before Mikey got to use those again.

Sam was now close enough that she had the turtle's truck in her sights, but just as she was catching up she saw the motorcycles that were way farther ahead now turn around and start driving back towards the turtles. She saw a few of the soldiers reach behind their backs and she soon recognized the orange lights that appeared as their hands returned in front of them. She didn't have time to warm the guys since she was now reaching into her side pouches and was throwing shuriken stars with the best aim she could give them as the speed she was throwing them. She had hit the arms of most of the soldiers, resulting in either the bombs dropping or exploding far enough away that it didn't affect the truck, but there was one star that missed and that soldier was able to place his bomb near the front of the truck. Sam grew furious as she saw the truck jump upwards as the bomb went off and blue flames surrounded the wheels. Seconds after the truck had been hit, multiple soldiers on bikes then began speeding on their way back towards where she was running.  
 _"Now it's my turn to have some fun"_ Sam thought as she glared at the oncoming cyclists while simultaneously reaching for her tonfa in the side pockets of her backpack. She gripped the handles and extended the weapon as the first motorcyclist came by with a katana in hand. She used her weapon to block the soldier from harming her as he swung towards her head. A few more soldiers came by and all four were swinging their blades at Sam, but her moves were quicker. As one soldier drove by, Sam used her right tonfa to block the man's blade and angled her body in a way so that as she took a step forward it also allowed her to swing her left arm around and use that tonfa to hook around his neck as she then pulled through with that moving force to knock the man off his bike. The man rolled backwards but then quickly got to his feet. He revealed that he was wearing a type of tekko and Sam was able to sense that this battle was now leading towards hand to hand combat. The man charged at Sam and the two began sparring. The man started jabbing at Sam, but by spinning the handle of her tonfa, she was able to block the blades from the man's tekko each time he jabbed. Sam kept backing up as she blocked attacks so that as the man charged forward he would continue to do so at a constant and ongoing speed, and this is what threw him off guard when Sam then quickly swiveled so that her right foot stayed planted but her body then turned so that for a split second her back was towards the man, her right tonfa spinning the entire time, and then as the man continued moving forward for that split second of time, Sam then stopped the tonfa once he was about to pass her as she then jabbed the forehead of the right tonfa into his side. Sam then swung her right elbow forward and up and then straight back so that it connected with the man's chin and then right after, with her right foot still planted in its same spot, she then swung her body to the right with her foot planted as she brought her knee up and kneed the man in the stomach, and as he stumbled back, Sam then spun and leaped up so that as she came back down she landed a final kick to the man's forehead, knocking him unconscious as he now lay on the road.

In the midst of this fight, Sam had forgotten that there were three additional soldiers chasing after her not long ago. Her questions were solved as she looked up at Raph who at some point must have come barreling out of the truck and was now knocking soldiers over left and right. She assumed that the soldiers had turned around and were more focused on defeating him as he barreled through the multiple other soldiers in front of them, but now it was their turn to meet their maker. Sam smirked as she dashed to the side and started gunning for the truck as she watched Raph roll forward and bounce back up off the ground from his shell and swing his arms outwards as they slammed two soldiers off their bikes and onto the ground. She then turned her head as she ran to see Raph leap back up onto the final bike and smash his head onto that of the bikers as the soldier went flying off his motorcycle. Sam turned back around and leaped up into the truck and got over to the side in seconds just before Raphael had ridden the motorcycle up and then jumped off of it and into the truck himself.  
He stood up and brushed off his soldiers. "Anything else I can do for ya?" he asked in a playfully cocky tone, resulting in chuckles from Mikey.  
Raph then turned towards the girl who was now removing herself from the wall. "Nice of you to finally join us" he said raising his brows with a smirk.  
"My invitation got lost in the mail" she said with a taunting voice and expression.  
"How are the officers?" Leo asked as he turned around in his seat.  
"I didn't sense any serious external injuries. Hopefully they're all okay" Sam replied with a sincere smile.

Just then, a helicopter flew over top of their truck. Sam stepped forward so that she was standing behind and between where Leo and Donnie were seated. Now that she was up close she could see that there were still a few motorcycles driving behind the police van and that there were two soldiers who were on top the van who were using some type of saw to cut into the top of the van. Just then the helicopter flew over them and was now hovering over top of the police van. Using long chained cables, a large round piece was lowered from the helicopter and was then placed onto the top of the police van by the two soldiers.  
"What is that thing?" Leo asked as his face scrunched up.  
"It's a big ass magnet" Donnie replied with wide eyes.  
Maybe this cussing thing was becoming a new thing for Donnie since it seemed like it was happening more often than ever before as of late, though Sam would lie if she said she didn't like it.  
The magnet then pulled upwards, and it pulled the van along with it as the back side raised into the air. Finally it pulled the top cut section from the van off and the vehicle slammed back down onto the ground. A separate cable was then lowered into the back of this open section as the soldiers on the sides leaped down onto the bikes of the trailing soldiers, and seconds after they left the scene, Shredder was being pulled up and out of the van.  
"He's getting away!" Donnie shouted.  
Sam thought quickly. "No he's not, Leo press the red sword button!"  
Leo checked quickly and figured out which button to press as he slammed his fist down onto the large red button. This led to a mechanical bar appearing in front of their truck which then launched a katana blade up towards the cable, slicing into it so that Shredder fell straight down. He wasn't able to catch his balance and bounced off the back of the truck, just grabbing onto the back in time so that he didn't come crashing down onto the road.  
"Donnie did you ever finish adding the net gun? Because I think now might be a good time to test it out" Sam stated.  
Just after she said this, Shredder pulled himself up and was now standing on top of the police van, and seconds after that a man went flying out the passenger door and was rolling down the road.  
"Okay now I really think it's a good time to test it out" Sam said.  
"Alright Mikey," Donnie started, "remember that game I set up for you? This machine will be set up the same way."  
"Hehe, awesome" Mikey said with an excited smile.  
"Okay, it's all you Mikey!" Donnie said as he turned and nodded towards his younger brother to signal that now was the time.  
"Time to shine" Mikey said as he sat in place and rubbed his hands together.  
Donnie pulled back a yellow lever and Mikey's chair was lifted upwards…only to make him bash his head into the ceiling over and over again as he said 'ow' each time.  
"I'm sorry! It's stuck!" Donnie called out.  
Sam nudged Don's shoulder. "Pull it all the way back and then forward, remember?"  
Donnie pulled the lever all the way back until he heard a click and then pushed it forward. "Ah there it is" he said with a content smile, ignoring that his brother just hit head on the ceiling like four times in a row.  
Apparently Mikey had forgotten this as well as his seat was launched into the air and was now riding on top of the truck, the wind whipping past him as the sped along the highway in trying to get closer to the police van.  
"Whoaaaa this is awesome!" Mikey shouted while throwing his fist in the air.  
Sam couldn't help but look up and smile at him through the opening in the ceiling. This was a dire situation, and yet somehow this dork knew how to calm himself (in the sense of not being overly worried and stressed that is) in even the most serious of situations.  
"Lock on you idiot!" Raph bellowed from the back of the truck.  
"Oh, right!" Mikey said as he now went into focus mode and looked through the eye piece of the device to try and lock in on where Shredder was.  
"Mikey! Make sure you aim for where he's going to jump and NOT ON SHREDDER HIMSELF!" Donnie shouted for his younger brother to hear.  
"Right! Got it!"  
"Alright Donnie, you got to get Mikey closer" Leo stated.  
Without hesitation, Donnie pulled back a switch that launched the truck forward and at incredible speed, which also lead to Leo and Donnie being thrown backwards into their seats, Raph being thrown against the back of the truck, and then Sam being thrown back and sliding down the back aisle some. Once Raph was able to get ahold of his footing, he stepped forward and helped Sam stand back up.  
"You good?" he asked.  
"My butt hurts" she said as she rubbed her lower backside. Nothing was seriously hurt, but she had landed pretty hard on her bottom.  
Raph pursed his lips. "Great, good to know" he said as he nudged her.  
"I'm fine, thanks red" she said with a laugh. Messing with Raph was just to fun, especially since he still teased her with almost every free moment that he had, or at least it seemed that way.  
"Guys, Shredder looks like he's about to jump" Donnie announced, not realizing that whenever he got nervous he was leaning so far forward that he was leaning over and past the steering wheel.  
"One shot it all you got" Leo announced. Shredder then took a few steps and leaped to his left. "TAKE THE SHOT MIKEY!"

Mikey took one final look through the eye piece and then pressed the button as a net shot through the tube and launched right towards where Shredder was jumping. The net should have caught him, but missed due to a huge blue light appearing and sucking Shredder into it just before the net could reach. The light swallowed up Shredder and disappeared, and the net dropped down to the ground. Donnie brought the truck to a halt, everyone inside just sitting there with their jaws dropped. Raph had moved his way up so that he was crouched between Leo and Donnie, Sam was standing right behind Raph, and Mikey's seat was brought back inside so that now he was sitting in the middle of the inside of the truck. Each of the five just sat there in silence until Leo finally voiced what each of them was thinking.  
"Where'd he go?" He then turned back towards Sam, wondering if any of her past Foot activity could explain what it was they all had just seen, but Sam just shook her head in response.  
"Of the short time that I worked for the Foot, I never saw anything like that. D, please tell me you somehow got footage of that."  
Donnie nodded his head, still facing forward in shock. "My shoulder cam is always running and should have picked up everything. We need to get back to the lair quick. Someone call April so that we can update her and see if she read anything about this in those emails of Stockman's."  
"Oh! I'll do it!" Mikey shouted as he shot his hand in the air like he was asking a teacher to call on him.  
"I'll do it" Raph growled as he turned back to glare at his brother.  
Mikey pouted, but accepted.

Donnie then quickly drove around to pick up any loose materials he could find (the manhole covers, the katana, the net) and then quickly took an exit that would lead back to the secret passage they had exited the sewers from earlier on.  
In the meantime, Sam went back to where Mikey was sitting to nerd out about the new devices he had tested out.  
"Still the best sharp shooter in New York" she said as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.  
"Yeah right, I missed the shot" Mikey said as he leaned forward, his face cupped in his hands which were now resting on his crouched up knees.  
"Only because 'who the hell knows what' appeared and swallowed Shredder whole, I wish for good. None of us expected that, so no one could have avoided it. Without that randomness then you totally would have trapped Shredder dude."  
Mikey started to smile at this comment and began to cheer up. "Well, I did max out each of my previous high scores whenever I tested out the demos" he said in a playfully cocky tone.  
"That's because your skills are dope man!"  
"Hell yeah! No one tops M.C. Mikey!" he shouted as he pulled his friend in for daps and a bro hug.  
"Sorry April, I can't hear you over the dorks in the back" Rah groaned out loud from his spot up front behind and between Donnie and Leo.  
Sam squinted her eyes at him as she cupped her mouth and shouted "Whoa Raph what's up with these pics of April on your phone!" Of course this was made up, Sam had no idea what was on anyone's phone but Mikey's, but it lead Raph to do what she hoped he would.  
In his instant anger (and embarrassment even though there were no pictures of April on his phone) Raph threw his shell cell towards Sam rather violently. Sam had planned this however and caught the device, and then kindly handed it to Michelangelo. "And this is for you" she said in sweet voice, knowing that Mikey gushing to April and miserably failing at flirting would piss Raph off even more.  
"April! Heyyyy angel cakes, how'd your mission go today? Tell me allllllll about it!" he started as he walked further towards the back of the truck with the phone.  
"Hey Sam" Raph called from the front.  
"Hmmmm?" she hummed, her chin in her right hand and her left arm crossed against her stomach, making the expression just to mess with the angered turtle even more.  
"You should take me out to dinner."  
"Why so?"  
"I'd like to eat before you fuck me" he announced in an irritated manner.  
"Huh, I didn't take you for that type of guy" she said, tilting her head to the side.  
"What?"  
"I thought you'd just cut to the chase."  
"What is wrong with you two?" Leo asked, trying to remember how the conversation lead to this.  
"Years of being lied to and not knowing the truth and then that affecting me in a variety of ways" Sam stated, nodding her head at her nonchalant response.  
"Heh, yet you throw out lies like saying I have pictures that don't exist on my phone" he said, jabbing his finger into the girl's forehead as he stood up to walk past her.  
"I gave her food for thought…hey, there's your dinner" she said, squinting her eyes up at him.  
"Pshh, you couldn't handle me" he said in attempts to mess with her…and yet Sam was fighting her damned best not to laugh.  
"Why are you laughing?" he asked, pausing his steps from walking towards the back of the truck.  
Sam rapidly shook her head. "I'm not."  
"Yeah you are."  
"Nope."  
"Sam!"  
"Oh go beat up your brother already" she said, waving the turtle away. She would never admit it, but seeing Raph in a sexual sense just made her laugh. It wasn't just him, comments like this from any of the three older brothers would have her reacting this way. It wasn't that they didn't have sex appeal (she'd be a liar if she said there weren't traits about all four of them as individuals that she actually found quite attractive) but the older three never flirted or anything, so hearing them talk sexually or anything close was so out of character that it was rather comical to her.  
"Heh, with pleasure." Raph cracked his knuckles and made his way towards the back of the truck.

Around this time, Donnie was now entering the secret passage way and the group was entering the sewers. The truck was parked and before anyone could say anything, Donnie was already rushing over towards his collage of computer screens right outside his lab and was hooking up wires and devices and clicking away on his keyboard.  
Around the same time, April was now just arriving herself and entering from where the living room was. Mikey, of course, was the first to greet her with a hug and a smile, rushing over to her like he had forgotten about everything else that had just happened. April had grown accustomed to this greeting and accepted it whole heartedly each time, not wanting to hurt the turtle's feelings. She knew that he knew that no relationship would ever occur between the two, but she also knew that Mikey was still the flirt that he was and still loved the woman as family, so she knew the hugs were friendly and harmless.  
Raph had now walked over to join these two. "Soooo, I don't know what you heard earlier-"  
"Oh, you mean about the pictures?" April said, teasing the now embarrassed 6'5 turtle standing in front of her as she smirked up at him.  
"Uhhh that was just Sam being an idiot again" Raph said, rubbing the back of his head.  
April nodded her head for Raph to look behind him, and as he did so he saw Sam who had been walking now pause in place and shoot him a 'wtf' type expression.  
"Well that's what you get when you screw me over" he said, pointing at Sam with his brows furrowed.  
Sam then paused. "…screw me over…fuck me over…ohhhh take me to dinner before you fuck me over HA now I get it, that's funny" she said as she pointed at him and continued to walk so that she was now standing next to Leo who was also standing behind Donnie.  
"I heard that through the phone to" April said, hiding her smile behind her hand as she pretended to be itching under her nose.  
"That one is her fault! She pisses me off and then I say oddly comfortable insults and shit."  
"The pictures are your fault though" Mikey teased.  
"There are no pictures!" Raph shot back, glaring at his brother.  
"Of April at least" Mikey smirked with a devilish grin.  
"Oh? So who is on your phone then?" April chimed in, bearing a similar expression to Michelangelo's.  
"Uhhhh no one. Just knitting ideas for the Hashi" Raph said with a slight blush.  
"Scarlet. Johansson." Mikey said, moving his hands in front of his face and then outwards, like he was seeing through something. And then of course this lead to more playful arguments between the two as April continued to laugh at them both.

Sam watched this and smiled off from afar. At this point in her friendship she was used to being the second best. If she and Mikey were hanging out then he would usually sprint over to April whenever she entered the room and he would start bombarding her with a million different questions before April could even say hello. If Mikey had already been talking to April, then Sam would purposefully enter the lair through an entrance where she wouldn't be seen and would go talk to another one of the brothers first and would talk to Mikey later, that way he could continue talking to April without doing anything to accidentally show that he was upset that the conversation had to end. He had let this slip once and Sam mentally never forgot it, and honestly it made her feel like shit for a variety of reasons, so she made sure to follow this routine each time so that she would never have to experience that again. She would never admit this to Mikey though because she knew it would upset him, so this was all a secret that she kept to herself. She knew that Mikey flirted (or attempted to do so in his ways) with April all the time, but he had heart to heart conversations and nerded out with Sam, so it didn't bother her that Mikey always wanted to gain attention from April. Plus she knew that April was gorgeous, so any man would obviously want to talk to the gorgeous older woman compared to the nerdy tomboy who wore form fitting comfy clothes 24/7 and who did things like secretly hold burping contests with her best friend when no one else was around. That and Sam had now grown a lot closer to other male figures in her life ever since she learned of her brothers past with the Foot. Now that she knew the truth, she was able to hang out with so many friends that she had lost touch with, unknowingly because of their own personal reasons for being forced into the Foot clan. Now that all of that was over, she was able to rekindle and even start new friendships, including her bond with Kris from years ago. All in all, she was used to seeing Mikey wanting to be close to April, but she also accepted this and understood this, and this was part of the reason as to why she was now standing closer to Leo and Donnie. Sam also cared about April very much and vice versa, but for Mikey's sake, Sam kept her distance from the older woman when her friend was surrounding her.

While Sam was letting these thoughts swirl around in her mind, Leo was playing the protective older brother towards Sam as the two stood back some and watched as Donnie went to town on finding good quality video footage of what they all saw earlier on the highway.  
"Were you seen?" Leo asked calmly.  
"Seen I was, in trouble I'm not."  
Leo quickly turned towards her. "What does that mean?"  
"So one of the unconscious soldiers woke up and got all freaked out since I was dressed in black, even though I was helping keep his men safe from harm, but another soldier woke up and asked for my code name."  
"Code name?" Leo asked, scrunching his face in confusion.  
"Yeah. Rebel soldiers had code names we used to communicate with each other. Mine was SAP3. Jay's was JAP5. I said my code and the dude told me to go. I'm not sure if I ever actually met him or not, but the police might know some of the codes from some of the top fighters. Honestly I'm not sure how he knew exactly, but when I stated my code name he acted like he recognized it personally. Either way, I'm sure he explained to the older officer about the significance of the code and I'll be fine" Sam said with a shrug of her shoulders.  
"*sigh* Sam you need to be a lot more careful" Leo huffed.  
"What are you talking about? I just said the officer let me off the hook."  
"And what if he didn't? What if he didn't know you personally, or he didn't have any info given to him from the NYFS? You could have been in big trouble getting caught like that."  
Sam pursed her lips together. "Yeah, I guess so. I'll be more careful from now on, okay?" she said with a small apologetic smile.  
"How are you feeling?" Leo asked in a serious yet softer voice.  
Sam shot him a muddled look. "What do you mean? Like if I got hurt during the chase?"  
"Well that to, but more so about…" he paused as his eyes were now aimed at the ground to the side. Sam had an idea she knew what Leo was talking about, and the pause was because he felt defeated and that this was his fault.  
"Leo, are you worried about me because Shredder may be free now?"  
Leo closed his eyes and then opened them as he looked back up at the girl next to him. "I just don't want you to feel like you're being forced into any of this."  
"Dude what are you talking about?" Sam said, taken aback with a confused smile. "Why wouldn't I want updates about this?"  
"Sam, he tortured you, and in more ways than one. I don't want you helping us if it's going to hurt you anymore than what he's already done to you" Leo said in a forcefully strict tone. It sounded like she was being ridiculed, but this was how Leo showed protection towards others.  
Sam softened her expression some. "I spent years cowering in fear and being afraid of this guy, but for once I actually felt the will to fight back against him. As long as I'm with you guys, I still feel that want to fight back, and by working together we can try to get ahead of him. Working as a team is what will keep me strong, pushing me away and making me watch by myself from the sidelines, that's what will lead me to panic and lose myself again."  
Leo sighed and went to speak, but was cut off by Donatello.  
"Then you need to listen to us and work with us as a team. No sneaky business, got it?" he said, pausing his typing so that he could turn his head to face her.  
"No sneaky business, I promise" Sam said with a genuine smile.  
"So what do we know so far?" April asked as she walked over with Raph and Mikey so that now everyone was basically standing around Donnie. Leo was now standing next to Donnie on his right, Raph was standing behind them, April was standing to Donnie's left, and Mikey was standing to April's left. Sam just kind of hung in the back since she was the shortest and couldn't see anything at the moment.  
"The only thing I know so is that he just disappeared after he took the jump" Donnie stated.  
"So, he just vanished?" April questioned.  
"I'm trying to run the video from my shoulder cam through an electrostatic filter so that we might be able to see what happened to Shredder."  
"Come on, show me something buddy" Leo said softly, trying to motivate his brainy brother.  
Donnie then pulled up the video of Shredder making the jump and paused it as Shredder was being grabbed by something within the blue light.  
"Look! Right there!" Donnie announced as he pointed towards the image. "Sam come here!"  
Sam had gone back and was laying down on the raised round area in between where Donnie's monitors and the living room were. She couldn't see overtop all her taller friends, so she had decided to just hang back and relax until she had been called just now. She maneuvered herself so that she didn't touch any of the burning candles along the ledges of the raised area as she got down and then walked over towards the monitors. Mikey had been kind enough to step to the side so that Sam was now standing on April's left with Mikey right behind the two women.  
"None of this rings a bell at all?" Donnie asked, taking a few seconds to look over at his friend after asking the question, though the shocked and questioning look on the girl's face was all the answer he truly needed.  
"I've never seen anything like this" she said lightly as she slowly shook her head. "Any idea what this even is?"  
Donnie was now looking back at the screen as he tried to analyze what he saw as best he could.  
"It appears to be some kind of residue from a teleportation event."  
"Yeah teleportation even residue man, it's the worst" Mikey stated, a grin on his face. Sam then mimicked the expression as she lightly nudged him, signaling that now wasn't the best time for such jokes, regardless of how funny they were to her.  
"Does that type of technology even exist?" Raph asked rather sternly.  
"Baxter Stockman has been working on this type of tech for years" Donnie replied with a shrug.  
April then turned towards Donnie, a determined look in her eyes. "All of that stuff that I pulled off of Baxter's iPad, it was full of information about Shredder and the Foot clan like it was a virtual playbook. Baxter has to have a backup somewhere and I bet it's on the mainframe of TCRI."  
April then took a step back as if she was about to start pacing as she thought of what to do, but just as fast it seemed that she had already thought up a plan in her head.  
"Donnie, I need something. What do you got?"  
At this point all the others were watching Donnie (except for Mikey, who had now taken a few steps back and was now swinging his nunchuks to keep him occupied as he had lost concentration during the conversation) as he rummaged around through a box he had picked up off his desk.  
"I know exactly what you need…" he said as he continued to look through the box. He then pulled out a rather thick flash drive as a smile and wave of confidence swarmed over him as he handed the device to April. "Totally plug and play." **  
**"Perfect" the woman replied as she took the flash drive from the brainy turtle, "I'll go check it out." April then began to walk away towards the further exit near the kitchen.  
"We'll go with and operate support" Leo added as he turned to follow April. Donnie and Raph instinctively did the same, and Mikey followed once Sam nudged him and he realized that everyone else was about to leave the room.

"Wait" April said, coming to a halt and turning to face the group behind her. As she faced them, Leo was on her right with Donnie next to him, then Raph, and then Mikey on her far left. Sam had already taken a few extra steps and out of curiosity as to what was about to be said, she turned around and was now standing on April's left (in front of Raph and Mikey) as her body faced the turtles while her face was looking at the woman next to her. Sam then opened her mouth a bit as she sighed and tilted her head to the side some as she realized what April was about to say.  
"Sun's coming up," the older woman said, "you can't go outside, you'll be seen."  
The two women then watched as the four turtles displayed similar reactions to what Sam just had.  
Leo, attempting to react as mature as possible even though he was extremely frustrated at this current moment, tried not to roll his eyes (failing at trying not to) as he looked up towards his left, trying his best to hide from April how frustrated he was at this comment. It wasn't her fault that they couldn't be seen, so he didn't want to upset her, though his expression made it clear how annoyed he truly was. He was also extremely frustrated with the fact that they wouldn't have to worry about not being able to go up onto the surface at this moment if he had just lead his team to capturing Shredder like he should have, as he now began to mentally blame himself for putting his family and April in this overall situation.  
Donnie just pursed his lips and nodded before slightly turning his head to the side, succeeding in concealing how frustrated he was. He quickly tried to process a way that they could all go up to the surface together and try to gain information on locating and capturing Shredder, but each thought lead to the same conclusions of his family being discovered and getting in trouble in multiple deadly ways, hence why he turned away in order to prevent April from seeing his troubled and defeated expression from her comment.  
Raph and Mikey on the other hand made it known how upset they were after hearing this comment. Mikey rolled his eyes quietly as he then looked off in the distance to his right, whereas Raph sighed out loud and he rolled his eyes and looked off in the same direction.

April pursed her lips as she looked at the four teens in front of her. She so badly wished there was something she could do where she could protect them and allow them to continue on with their hunt for Shredder, but sadly any solution to these thoughts were completely out of her control. She formed a small smile as she tried to gently motivate them.  
"Don't worry, it'll be 6p.m. and starting to get dark before you know it. I'll get as much information as I can and then we can work together and catch Shredder and figure out what's going on with Stockman. Just hang tight, okay?"  
To make their friend feel better, all four turtles looked at her and nodded with a small smile.  
"Go kick ass" Raph said with a genuine smile, all his brothers and Sam nodding with the same expression.  
"Contact us immediately if you need anything" Donnie reassured.  
"Will do" April replied, turning back to make her leave.  
"Stay hidden and stay safe" Leo then called after her.  
"Like always" April said, lifting her hand up for a wave as her back was to the group as she walked away.  
"We have snacks in case you get hungry angel cakes!" Mikey called out to the woman. For this April had to pause and turn towards the group as she couldn't conceal her laughing smile. Finally, before anyone else could speak, she exited the lair.

Once the group could sense she was gone, the four turtles went back to displaying their distressed mannerisms.  
Sam hated seeing her family like this and tried her best to cheer them up.  
"Guys, you know that Shredder can't really do anything within a day right? I'm sure Donnie can calculate the odds that he could only possibly do so much when he just got escaped from prison with barely anything of a clan to go back to."  
"It's a solid 50/50" Donnie mumbled.  
"Well, then that just means that within the time you have, you should get amped up and get ready to take him down. While he's…wherever the heck he even is, I'm sure he'll be planning his next move, but we're all going to be ten steps ahead of him. You guys got this" Sam said, giving two thumbs up to the group with a serious expression on her face.  
While all four of the guys appreciated her enthusiasm, they were still slightly bothered with the fact that they couldn't all act on finding Stockman and Shredder while they had the upper hand at this very moment. Because of this, each one decided to follow through with Sam's statement and do something that would help keep their minds focused.  
With a small smile, Raph patted the girl's shoulder as he walked past her and towards the circular opening near the dojo that held various weights and other exercise equipment.  
Leo did the exact same thing as he walked past Sam and back towards his room in the corner of the lair near the kitchen so that he could go meditate in peace.  
Donnie then took a step forward. "I'll be working on the truck if you need me" he said with a nod before turning to his left and then down the small steps towards the truck.  
Sam then looked over at Mikey who was staring off into space, lost in his thoughts. She then stood next to him and looked off in the same direction.  
"What are we looking at?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders.  
Mikey sighed. "Just thinking."  
Sam rested her head on his shoulder. "Sorry about tonight."  
"What do you mean?"  
"What happened at the arena, since it would be such a big deal getting caught. And then not being allowed to join in the parade, and then hearing that you can't go after Shredder now. It upsets me too."  
Mikey then formed a small smile as he turned his head towards the smaller one leaning on his shoulder.  
"Ehhh it's no big deal. With you around, I know we'll eventually find a better spot, and you'll help us kick Shredder's ass when the time comes. And the parade was one of the most awesome experiences of my life, but it was missing something, so it wasn't perfect anyway."  
Sam then took a step to the side so that she could look at her friend and see his face. "What was is missing?"  
"A best friend to share the moment with" he said facing her with a big smile on his face.  
Now that she sensed her friend was feeling better, this also meant it was time to tease.  
"Ohhhh, to have A BEST FRIEND, so no one specific huh? That's cool, I get it" she said with her hands up as she went to walk away.  
"Oh shut up!" Mikey exclaimed as he threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, resulting in laughs and smiles from the girl, "gosh you're so emotional" he said in a mocking tone. "Wanna go play videogames Donnie set up so that I can practice my aim and shooting skills?"  
"Lead the way" Sam said, gesturing her arm outwards for her friend to take the lead.  
And with that, the two went on their way so that they could prepare and keep themselves alert and focused for when the time would come for them to act on chasing after Shredder later that night.

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR!  
So I'd like to announce now that sadly I have never actually been to New York, so I honestly made up street names.**

 **Also I was watching the film and I love scenes where you really have to listen carefully to truly hear everything that is being said. I needed earphones on my laptop to be able to hear what Donnie is saying about the wires and the seats and I found it hilarious, but it was interesting because I had never heard any of that when I watched it on the television because it always sounded so muffled, so for the longest time I thought it was literally nothing but mumbles and I was shocked when I realized that if you listen closely you can actually hear what he's saying while he's tinkering around as the truck is moving.**

 **Also I'm really sorry with how slow these updates are, and then how short the chapters are as they come along with the updates. I really hoped to have had a lot more content up by now, but life doesn't always allow things to go the way you want them to. But I hope that to anyone who is still reading that you're still enjoying what you've read so far and that you're still interested in joining me for the ride that these characters will continue on with. And to those who have left feedback in any way, (views, comments, etc.) thank you all so very much for the support**

 **Before I forget, I'd also like to write something short in memory of Jonghyun of Shinee. Although I don't know a whole lot about Shinee, I've generally heard a lot about them in the k-pop community. I also learned something interesting through a memorial video made about him. The first ever k-pop video I ever saw was of a special stage where multiple men from different SM boy groups (Super Junior, 2AM, 2PM, Shinee, and maybe more) dressed up as the members of SNSD and sang and danced to GEE back when it was first coming out. I knew the names of everyone in the video eventually later on in life, but there were only a few where I had actually listened to them and their groups. In a memorial video for Jonghyun there was a scene from this video, meaning that I was recently reminded that Jonghyun was in the very video that lead me to become a k-pop fan. I just found that to be so incredible that someone lead me onto such an incredible journey into the k-pop world, which has then changed my life in so many positive ways, and every day he had no idea that he had done something so inspirational. And this is just one side story, this man touched people's lives every day. As I said before, sadly I don't know a whole lot about Shinee just yet, but this group was on a huge list I have of groups that I eventually wanted to learn about (i.e. right now I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the group EXO) and it makes me so sad to know that I was too late in learning about this group and meeting this singer. As a general k-pop fan I believe that times like these should open everyone's eyes and make the realize that we should all be supporting each other and that people need to stop posting such hateful comments. All the time I read about posts that bash celebrities over such trivial and ridiculous things and it hurts to read about things like this.**

 **Jonghyun, I wish I could have learned and gotten to know you so much more before you passed, but I hope you are resting peacefully now. You will never be forgotten, and forever more people will continue to learn about you and think back to you, including myself. Rest peacefully.  
**


	31. Chapter 31

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #31

 ***June 6** **th** **, 2015*  
*Later into the next day after April has left. The lair around the afternoon.***

The guys liked to spend some time by themselves, especially when they were in a bit of a rough mood, but what truly and officially cheered them up was when they were all hanging out together. All families have their moments where they wanted to be surrounded by their loved ones and then other moments where they just wanted some down time alone, and the turtles family was the exact same way. After April had left it was about 3a.m. The sun wouldn't be coming up until a couple hours later, but the turtles knew that there was a good chance they wouldn't be back home by that time and that many people throughout the city would be waking up to head to work around 5a.m. or even earlier depending on what their hours were for their jobs, so leaving at 3 in the morning was still a pretty risky move. At that time everyone had gone off to do their own thing. Everyone had lasted until about 5a.m. By that time, Leo had decided to end his meditation and had fallen asleep since he was already in his room, Raph had been exercising and then eventually went back to his room to shower and then collapsed onto his bed where he fell asleep, Donnie had eventually reached his limit since he had gotten even less sleep the night before and so after working on the truck for a couple of hours he decided to head into his lab as he also collapsed onto the bed he had within his work space, and after Mikey and Sam had been testing out some video games, the two decided to relax some and took some new comic books up to where the hammocks were located in the upper large circular opening near the dojo and the two camped out there until they both eventually fell asleep in their own individual hammocks. Raph was the first one to wake up around 8a.m. later that morning. 3 hours felt like plenty of sleep for him, so once he woke up he headed to the kitchen with one of his sports magazines as he read about basketball stats from that season. Leo woke up about an hour later, and the two oldest were ridiculously excited to try and play pranks on the two that were sound asleep up in the hammocks. They would have woken Donnie, but they knew that he barely EVER got any sleep EVER because he was always sow wrapped up with his projects, so they thought it was more important to let him get this needed sleep. Leo and Raph then silently went into Mikey's room where they knew he had a crap ton of packs of mini balloons and filled them with water, and around 9:30a.m. the two oldest brothers set it up so that they were able to launch about 50 water balloons at the two that were sleeping…and then this lead to an all-out war as Mikey then rushed to his room and provided himself and Sam with toilet paper cannons (aka leaf blowers with toilet paper in them that Sam had prepared forever ago because she was freaking amazing and was the best teammate for prank wars, words by Michelangelo himself). By 9:40a.m. Donnie had woken up and secretly took pictures of the events as they continued to unfold because it was just too hilarious for him not to create evidence of these events and then find a way to use them to his advantage at some point down the road. Of course he was attacked once Sam spotted him, and a few minutes later the group thought they heard Master Splinter stirring and quickly realized that if they didn't clean up their mess that they'd be screwed. Sensei was all about having fun, but he was not a fan of ridiculously large messes. Knowing this, the group got to work and by 10a.m. the lair looked the same as before the prank war had begun. The group then decided to have breakfast since they were all wide awake by this time anyway and hung out with each other for the next hour. By 11a.m. the group was sort of hanging out with each other, but also wandering around and doing their own thing at the same time.

Donnie and Raph were both in a mood where they didn't feel like doing much and would rather be around others rather than isolating themselves, so they both hung around and talked to the others in the room. Raph had found an old wiffle bat and Donnie threw the balls from the kitchen as Raph tried to see how high he could hit them from across the room since the ceiling above was incredibly high up. Mikey was now antsy and needed to move around, so he found one of Donnie's drones and set it to a mode where it would follow him around and nudge him as a way of 'attacking' him. Sam was still a little groggy from being woken up by being bombarded by water balloons and then rushing into a prank war moments after, so she just hung back by herself and sat where the chairs were.  
It was then 11:15a.m. when Donnie had stood up from where he was sitting along the edge of the eatery so that he could walk over to the fridge and get a Japanese juice box and in the process had spotted Sam writing on one of the duller colored chairs in the kitchen behind him.  
Donnie chuckled as he lifted his foot and lightly nudged the girl as he walked by her.  
"Stop writing on all of our chairs. That's the second one you've detailed so far" he said with a smile as he walked over and then opened up the fridge.  
Sam looked over at him with a comical expression. "Says the guy who has literally written all along the walls of his bedroom."  
"Hey! Those writings are for science!" Donnie playfully exclaimed as he shut the fridge and walked back over towards where the girl was sitting on the floor in front of her kitchen chair.  
"Well I'm experimenting with these writings to see if they can prevent boredom" Sam stated as she looked up at him with a mocking smile.  
Donnie read over her writing and the creatively drawn squiggles around it. "Guest, sit here."  
"It's a personal matter, very touchy subject. It goes back to a time in my life when I didn't know that a chair was a place to sit" she said as she looked up at him.  
"Very original, tons of details" Donnie replied, lightly ruffing the girls hair as he walked by and took a seat.  
"Great, that's just fantastic" Raph grumbled as he paced back and forth on the walkway across from the eatery, just as Mikey had zoomed by and was playing around as the drone was still chasing after him.  
"You guys paint graffiti on the walls all the time, learn to share!" Sam jokingly barked at him.  
"Not that" Raph mumbled as he rolled his eyes, but staying alert enough to hit the ball that Donnie threw at him as it soared up towards the pipes above.  
"Then what's your malfunction now?" Sam asked as she stood up and walked across the small bridge over the water below.  
"My issue is that every second we're down here, Shredder becomes more powerful, and Mikey gets more annoying."  
"Hey I heard that!" Mikey called out as he knocked the drone away from him and then zoomed under a pipe and into the other room.  
"Oh come on Raph!" Donnie exclaimed, getting comfy in his seat, "we're training!" Donnie then through another wiffle ball at Raph, who then sent it flying high in the air once again. "Well, sort of."  
"Oh! Donnie I have an idea!" Sam exclaimed as she walked over and pushed Rah over towards the side, messing with these guys was just too fun. "Throw me the ball, but not yet, but you'll know when to throw the ball, okay?"  
"Uhhhh-"  
"With crap instructions like that, not even a genius like Donnie can follow along" Raph said, rolling his eyes.  
"You're just jealous because you know I'm going to do something amazing, as always" she said as she rubbed her knuckle against her shirt.  
"Whatever." Raph took a seat along the open chairs in the aisle way.  
"Mikey! Watch this, you'll regret it if you don't" Sam called out to him.  
Mikey then kicked the drone in a way that turned it off and then sat along one of the pipes that was higher up in the air. He shot his friend two thumbs up to signal that he was ready and paying attention.  
"Ready Donnie?" Sam asked as she now faced her friend from over the bridge.  
"I'm going to give it a shot."  
"Kame" Sam cupped her hands together in front of her, "Hame" she kept her hands together as she pulled her arms back against her left side, Donnie had quickly understood what was happening and now threw the ball, "HA!" Sam threw her arms forward while her hands were still cupped together and her eyes shone blue for a couple seconds as she used her wind powers to launch the ball way up into the ceiling.  
"Whooo that was amazing!" Mikey shouted as he rocketed his way back down to the ground and stood next to his best friend.  
"Who has two thumbs and makes waiting around super fun? It's meeee!" Sam said throwing her arms up into the air.  
"As amazing as that was" Raph started in a mocking tone, hiding the fact that he actually thought that was really cool, "it's not what we should be doing right now. Shredder is free and doing who knows what and we're playing around down here!" he bellowed.  
"Don't worry Raph, Shredder can only do so much in a day with the small leftovers of his clan. He will piddle around trying to get things done, but he won't get very far because as soon as the suns goes down, it's turtle time" Donnie said right before taking another sip of his juice box.

Sam walked over to the fridge, got a juice box for her and for Donnie (knowing he would want another one once he finished the one he had) and then walked back over to the table where she plopped down in a chair next to Donnie. She smiled as she handed him the extra juice box and chuckled as the turtle looked like a child receiving candy as he excitedly took the drink.  
Sam sensed movement from across the room and turned her head to see Splinter leaving his new room and join his oldest son who was sitting by himself in the living room.  
"Hey, is Sensei enjoying the new living arrangements?" Sam asked, looking back at Donnie. Raph was now occupied with kicking a soccer ball he found at Mikey, who was 'training' by dodging the ball as he zoomed around high up in the air on his skateboard.  
"Oh he loves it. He has plenty more space now, and because of that he's finding more things he can collect, just like he did at the old lair" Donnie replied.  
Sam chuckled as she shook her head. "I still can't believe you stayed up all night for like, how many days was it again?"  
"4 nights and 3 full days" he replied with pride.  
"I can't believe you spent 3 full days testing all the walls all throughout the lair." Sam then leaned back in her chair, joining her friend in kicking her legs up and resting them on the rail in front of her, since the eatery was raised up above where the water from the water slide was.  
"Well ever since you and Mikey found that enormous space that you guys decked out about a year ago, I kept wondering what else was hiding down here."  
"I mean hey, the search was obviously worth it. You found a new and more spacious bedroom for you, and then that lead to you creating a better bedroom for your dad, and now Jay and I have our own mini bedroom and same for April. Is Leo still okay with sharing his side of the lair?"  
Throughout his search, Donnie had found an open space that was close by to Leo's room, and then on the wall perpendicular to that room there was another small space that stretched out and reached over towards where the water slide was. This smaller space had become a spare bedroom that visitors like Jay and Brenda were allowed to use, and Splinter's old bedroom within the raised pipe had also become a spare bedroom that was usually occupied by April when she visited. In order for all these new changes to be made and to work out, it meant that Leo had to allow Donnie to occupy the bedroom that was right next to his, meaning that he was no longer separated by all three of his younger brothers anymore.  
"Nah, Leo doesn't mind. More than anything he would have made the change because it would mean better sleeping arrangements for Sensei, but he also told me that he didn't mind as much because it was me who would be sleeping in the room next to him. He wouldn't have been as okay if he had to have Raph or Mikey nearby. He knows that I'm as tidy as he is, so he didn't see it as a big deal. That and he and I usually don't butt heads as much. I mean we ALL annoy each other at times, but he and I don't argue as much as we do with others in our family. "  
"Heh, I still just find it funny how these spaces have been right under your noses and you guys never knew about them."  
"Well there was a lot going on before you came along. I mean now it's been almost 2 full years since our first encounter with Shredder, so we've all had a lot more time to wander around and explore what is around our home, but back when you met us we had just finished up with moving things around."  
Sam nodded her head. "That's right. You guys said that Shredder attacked in August of 13, and I was allowed in the lair in…May of 14 I believe. So that only gave you about 8 to 9 months to find a new home."  
"And scavenge for anything that we could move from the old lair to the new one, and make sure that we had a reliable power source, and to make sure we could get running water, AND set up security measures so that no one could track us."  
"So basically you had a million things to do, and your brothers just moved furniture?" Sam asked with a teasing smile.  
"Because I had a million things I didn't move or lift a thing" Donnie laughed.  
"Huh, so because of the short amount of time and because of how busy you were, you had no idea that there were extra spaces all throughout where your new home was located. But it was my discovery, meaning it was me coming along and joining the group that lead you to the idea to look for even more open space in your new lair. I guess you can just add that to the list of reasons why you love me! Haha, am I right?" Sam joked as she kept nudging her friend in the side.  
"Ehhhh" Donnie shrugged, "you're alright."  
"Dude, just admit you love me and that I'm the greatest thing ever" Sam said in a serious tone, though still teasing her friend.  
"Cocky much?"  
"Hehe, you said 'much'" Sam giggled, her hands covering her mouth.  
"Oh grow up" Donnie groaned with a smile as he leaned his foot over and kicked the girl's legs down and off the rail in front of them.  
Sam leaned forward and placed her hands on her knees. "You know I can totally kick your ass now right? My mutagen overpowers yours!"  
"No balls" Donnie said to provoke his friend, tilting his head forward and looking over his glasses at her.  
Sam nodded her head as she spoke. "Well I'd hope not, I'm kind of a girl."  
Donnie let out a quick laugh before pursing his lips together and looking away, not being able to prevent himself from laughing at his friend's childish comments.  
"Regardless, you still won't do it" he said, sitting with his hands on his knees, copying the way his friend was sitting.  
Sam sensed this and tilted her head forward so that if she wore glasses then she would be looking over them the same way Donnie was looking over his.  
"You're right, I'm to kind to kick your ass, so I'll use you for target practice instead."  
Just then, Sam lunged to the side and snatched 5 of the wiffle balls that were still in a pile that had been next to Donnie from when he was throwing them to Raph earlier on, and started chasing after the tallest turtle who had already leapt over the rail and was running across the lair.  
Donnie had first run backwards and then towards his right so that he was now rushing towards the circular openings that lead into the dojo. Sam fired a wiffle ball towards him at an incredible speed, her eyes lighting up as she activated her powers when throwing the balls. Donnie was quicker though as he leaped and swung himself upwards into the higher opening, and as his feet touched the concrete of the upper level opening, he jumped to the side just in time to dodge another ball that was thrown at him. As Sam started running over towards the circular openings, Donnie flipped over her, dodging the third ball thrown at him. He then darted towards where his lab was while Sam dashed over to the kitchen and then leaped over the rail so that she was now standing in the middle of the room on the raised pipe. She had gotten to her position just a split second before Donnie had gotten to his, so she launched a ball at him, just missing her target by a split second side step he took at the last second. Sam jumped down and was getting ready to aim as Donnie sprinted around the room. He paused for a moment and was lightly bouncing on his feet, trying to calculate which route was the best to take and when he should take it.

A devilish grin grew on his face as he finally began to make his move. He ran so that it looked like he was going to run straight across the lair on the further side, but instead of leaping over the raised pipe to continue his run towards the other side of the room, he slid and literally entered the pipe through the small entry way that lead down and underneath the space. Sam would have come close to a solid hit if Donnie had run across the lair and over the raised pipe like she had predicted, but she had not thought of him actually entering the pipe, and because of this miscalculation, she had already thrown the ball and it went sailing across the room…and into the living room…where it would have almost hit the back of Leo's head if it weren't for Splinter catching the ball with his tail.  
Sam was frozen solid as she just stood there with Splinter and Leo both looking at her from the living room with questioning looks on their faces. Sam knew that she had to say something or else…well honestly she had no idea what would result from this situation, but she felt that it would be worse if she just continued to stand there and do nothing.  
She slowly started to walk over towards where the other two were sitting, rubbing her hand behind her head as she did so.  
"Heyyyy guys. Sorry, I've just been trying to get Leo's attention for hours now and I ran out of ideas in how to do so, hehehe…heh."  
"Ah, so beaming a ball towards the back of my head was the solution to your problems. I'll make sure to remember that in the future" Leo stated with a small grin on his face.  
Splinter smiled and stood up. "Well Samantha, if whatever you need to say to my son is of such importance, I will leave you two to discuss this matter."  
Sam's eyes went wide a bit. "Pshh, you don't need to do that Sensei" she said as she waved her hand in front of her.  
"Oh no I insist" Splinter said with a grin. "It's probably time I go check on my other sons to make sure they are not destroying anything now anyways" the old rat teased as he exited the living room area and made his way across the lair towards the kitchen where the others were now all sitting.  
As soon as he knew that Leo and Sam couldn't see his face, Splinter couldn't help himself from forming a large smile on his face. It always amused him how there were times where his sons seemed really down in the dumps for various reasons, but somehow Sam's words and actions would quickly start to cheer them up. The whole time Splinter had been talking to Leo he continued to display a defeated and dismayed expression, but once Sam came over acting silly, Leo was already grinning because of the girl's antics. He wondered whether it was because Sam was able to provide a woman's perspective and if this had anything to do with it, or if being a fellow teenager helped her in being able to communicate and understand the boys better than he could as their father, or if her comical tomboy ways allowed them all to feel more comfortable around her than those who were more mature like himself and April, the reasons were endless. Overall, Splinter was just happy that there was another person that could help cheer his sons up in ways that he couldn't, and as their father he would always be forever grateful for that.

Once the two were alone, Sam sat down on the couch while Leo continued to sit in the round chair that was placed next to the couch. Sam quickly noticed that once Splinter had left the room, Leo's expression switched back to a depressed and defeated look.  
"Okay, what are you so pissed off about now?"  
He raised his eyes at her. "Starting with a question, that's odd. You know, since you're the one who's been trying to get my attention for hours now."  
"Yes, and for hours I've been trying to ask you what's making you so upset" Sam said as she crossed her arms.  
"Just reflecting on what happened on the highway." Leo looked off in the distance, the image of Shredder making his leap and escaping through the portal haunting his memory as it continued to play on rewind in his mind.  
Sam's expression switched to a sympathetic one. She made sure to speak gently as she talked to him. "Leo, you guys are the most skilled ninjas and overall the most skilled fighters I've ever met. When you four work together, you can do anything. And you literally have done some of the most amazing things I've ever seen. You defeated Shredder twice now, and I know that you're going to stop him again."  
"And what if we don't? What if what happened tonight continues to happen and we aren't able to stop him? What if I'm not able to lead the team and they realize that they can't depend on me?" Leo said, a strict tone mixed with a panicked one revealing itself in his speech.  
Sam shot him a quizzical look. "Leo, who are you trying to fool by talking like that? That doesn't sound like you at all. You're one of the most confident people I have ever met, so where is all this doubt coming from?"  
"*sigh* I just don't want to mess things up. Whenever others are in danger I usually begin to panic, and it's worse if it's my family that's in danger. I'm usually good at masking my worry, but knowing that Shredder got away from us so easily is just…giving me this feeling that something terrible is about to happen. Just prepping myself for the worst I guess-"  
"Well stop" Sam said, slightly raising her voice. "The only thing that's going to fail your family is you giving up on yourself like this and losing your focus. If you do everything in your power to protect them, then they'll have your back as well, and when you're all working together like that then you guys are able to kick major ass, I've seen in firsthand. You need to stop doubting your leadership and abilities because of one thing that literally no one could control happened. If the random portal had not appeared then Shredder would be back behind bars right now. No one could have predicted what happened, and right now you have the chance to calm your mind and prepare for what's to come so that you guys can be ten steps ahead of Shredder and what little remains of his clan" Sam said, lifting her fists in front of her in a confident congratulatory way.  
This mini speech did knock some sense into Leo, and he found it ironic how some parts of what Sam had said matched up with what Splinter had just said minutes before she appeared.  
"Thanks for reality check Sam. Maybe I'll call the guys together for a quick training session so that we can be on our feet and ready for whatever new tricks Shredder has waiting for us."  
"Now that sounds like Leo!" Sam stated as she pat her friend on the shoulder.  
"Hey, speaking of failing your family" Leo said as he pulled out his shell cell, "aren't you supposed to be somewhere helping your family right now?" he asked, playfully raising a brow at her and smiling.  
Sam's response was one of utter confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about dude."  
"It's 12p.m. Sam."  
"So you can read a digital clock, I'm very proud of you Leo, well done" she teased.  
Leo rolled his eyes. "What important family event is coming up in a few more weeks Sam?" he asked with a groan.  
"I'm assuming you mean the wedding and OH MY GOD I HAVE A REHEARSAL BRUNCH I'M SUPPOSED TO BE ATTENDING SOON!"  
Sam leaped off the couch and sprinted out of the lair. "Thanks Leo! I owe you one!"  
Leo shook his head as he chuckled to himself. It would always amuse him how Sam had her moments where she was as quick and witty as Donnie, yet she had just as many moments where she was a bit ditzy just like Mikey. It was definitely always an interesting time when Sam was around. Leo then stood up and stretched, preparing himself for the backlash he was about to receive as he told his brothers that it was time to get off their lazy butts and that now was the time to actually train and prepare themselves for what might come next from Stockman and Shredder.

 **So I've done the best I can to analyze the layout of the lair from Out of the Shadows because in my story I wanted the lair to mimic what is seen from the film because that's where my story is taking place, right before and now currently during the scenes of the film. Since this is a fanfiction story, my layout is different in multiple ways, but there are more similarities than differences in my story. One of the most noticeable differences is the bedroom layout. There are open spaces between the living room and Donnie's lab in the film and since these areas are never given a specific purpose, I took advantage of this and used the middle opening as a pathway that lead to actual bedrooms for Mikey and Raph, and the opening on the right of this right by Donnie's lab, I turned this into a bedroom for Donnie (now for Splinter since I moved Donnie's bedroom). What I find hilarious is that I did this originally because I could only figure out where Leo's bedroom was after watching bonus features and doing the best to watch scenes of the film on You Tube. I now FINALLY set up the film and have access to it through iTunes (I've had the code to do so for what seems like forever now) and as I watch different scenes AND look back to bonus features, I now realize that literally all four of their beds are in the top corner of the lair near the kitchen area. Like I was mind blown by this. I've seen this movie god knows how many times, and I literally just learned that all their beds are basically all right next to each other. I feel silly for just realizing this, but at the same time the film doesn't do the best job at making specific parts of the lair's layout known…then again I'm also that weird nerd that would analyze every aspect of their home. Like I LOVE to go in depth and go behind the scenes of films and I nerd out ten times more when it's a film that I really enjoy. But I have to have everything down to the tiniest detail because I'm that person where everything has to make sense and everything has to be perfect. Hopefully the oddly specific details that I include help set the scene as you read through the story and hopefully it helps you easily picture where everything is and should be.**

 **Hope you guys are enjoying the story, and criticisms and words of advice are always appreciated. :)**


	32. Chapter 32

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #32

 ***June 6** **th** **, 2015-Saturday***

Sam checked her phone and saw that she was entering the church right at 12:29p.m.  
 _"Phew! Literally made it just in time"_ Sam thought to herself as she quickly pushed the door open and ran to the front of a line of bridesmaids and groomsmen that she saw lining up just as they were about to enter the church. She attempted to act casual, but she realized that she failed as she was nudged from behind.  
"Wrong spot smarts" the young Asian woman now behind her said with a smirk. "I see arriving late boggles your mind."  
Sam shot her a playful and questioning look. "What are you talking about? I'm the first…oh, right, hehe" Sam said with a nervous smile as she realized that the first bridesmaid in line would have to enter the church last in the group so that she arrived right before the bride herself. She then quickly walked to the back of the line.  
"Well someone just made the cut off" came a familiar voice. Sam turned to the groomsman next to her and smiled at her childhood friend Kris. She playfully waved him away.  
"I was just being fashionably late, I would never forget about this."  
Kris chuckled softly as the practice began and the groomsmen all walked in together, talked to the priest and the groom about what they would do before the ceremony began, and then it was time for the bridesmaids to walk in one at a time.  
As Sam entered the nave and walked down the aisle and past all the pews, she walked by all her and Jay's friends who were there to help make sure all errands were run, decorations were set up, etc. She felt a bit awkward for some reason. She had performed in front of huge crowds before, but for some reason walking down the aisle for the wedding left butterflies in her stomach. It was probably because everyone was going to see her all dolled up in make-up and in a dress. This made her extremely uncomfortable, she was a tomboy after all. She was used to form fitting and flexible jeans, leggings, jeggings, track pants, and running shorts that almost reached down to her knees. She was used to loose but form fitting sweaters, graphic tees, sporty t-shirts, and colorful sweatshirts and hoodies. She was used to Converse, Adidas Samba's, and running shoes. She never wore 'girly' clothes, but Jay and Brenda were more important to her than her discomfort in wearing feminine clothes and attire, so she would bear with it.

The practice was held, and then it was held a couple more times, and then it was time to move on to the next event on the list of things that needed to be covered that day in preparation for the wedding. Jay and Brenda circulated throughout the room and talked to whoever they needed to about whatever was next on the list, and everyone else who was not needed was free to move around and talk to the rest of their friends.  
Sam hopped down the steps leading up to the alter like the child that she was (it was difficult at times to believe that she was actually 17 now) and looked up when she heard a familiar voice walk up and talk to her.  
"You're the one who is actually in the wedding, and yet I'm the one that arrived first" April said with her hands on her hips.  
Sam pursed her lips and looked up at the woman in front of her. "Well, I may have gotten caught up in a few…interesting events this morning, hehe."  
April rolled her eyes. "Prank war awakening again?"  
Sam nodded her head with a huge smile. "Mikey and I were victorious against the oldest two thanks to my toilet paper launchers."  
April shook her head and laughed, but then switched back to a more serious look.  
"So I talked to Irma earlier before I headed here and she gave me the contact info for a hacker who's ex rebel Foot. He hacked in and got me the access codes to Baxter's lab at the main TCRI building downtown."  
Sam's brows rose. "Well look at you getting things done. How come you didn't ask Donnie though?"  
April then expressed a face of sorrow. "I felt horrible reminding them they couldn't go above ground because they might not make it back in time before the sun came up. I had a feeling he would just want to be alone and do his own thing for a while, so I thought I'd leave him be this one time. Please don't tell him or else he'll get super offended. Just like that time I had an electrician come over because the one switch in my apartment stopped working."  
The two women groaned as they remembered how Donnie reacted to April asking someone else for help when it came to malfunctioning tech.  
"Trust me, no one wants to visit that side of Donnie again, your secret is safe with me. And honestly it was a smart decision, all four of them wandered and did their own thing for a couple hours or so after you left. When are you heading to Stockman's lab?"  
"Don't worry, I'll contact Leo first. I took off for a few hours this morning to help Brenda out, but then I have to get back to work later. I'm heading downtown to TCRI later tonight. I'll make sure the guys know of my whereabouts, or else they'll all freak out."  
"And I would to!" Sam announced. "You've come a long way in your training, but you still scare me O'Neil" Sam stated, looking the woman up and down, like a cop looking over a suspicious subject.  
"Yes, I know Sam. Thank you for worrying about me, even though you get into ten times crazier messes" she said as she rolled her eyes. April then caught Brenda excitedly waving her over, so she waved bye to Sam and headed over towards Brenda.

Sam then wandered around some herself since she knew everyone that was here. After a few minutes she then somehow ended up in a circle on the floor with all of her friends from the rebel Foot, well, except for three extra faces that had only been around for about a year now. The 5K group of Kris, Key, Kyle, Kevin, and Ken were in the group. Then there was the triplets Thomas, Clay, and Grace. Brianna and her older brother Brad were next, then Amanda and her older sister Sarah, then the twin blondes Kate and Becca, then the look alike cousins of Nathan and Aaron, then Jillian Amante and her older cousin Ashley Kurtzman, then Angel and her older brother Ryan, and then Sofia or Shadow Jones, Lindsay Baker, Joshua Stockman, Tara, Lotus, and Tyler.

There were three new faces in this group though. Ryan and Angel, the brother and sister that were mixed with black and white parents, had two cousins. The older one was named Nova and had been a part of the Foot clan after being convinced to join in order to protect her younger sister from ever having to. Because of this, their cousin who was the same age as Angel, named Vanessa, had never been forced to join and was allowed to remain safe at home.  
This was the same situation for Tyler Winters and his family. The tan skinned boy with black hair had both an older sister and a year younger sister. His older sister was Andrea and his younger was Skylar. Andrea had been forced into the Foot since their father, Max Winters, owned a huge company that could easily be taken advantage of and the business man's children could easily be used as bargaining tools to gain money and other tools. However, once information got back to Shredder that Tyler was a skilled athlete, he decided to make a bargain that he would take Andrea and Tyler as soldiers and would leave the family business alone. To save their father and everything he had built, they agreed, but only if Shredder promised that he would never force their sister Skylar into the clan. To this Shredder agreed, and Skylar Winters was never touched by the clan.  
The third person outside of the rebel Foot group was a girl with long black hair named Emma. She had an older brother named Elijah, and though he also had never joined the Foot, he had been a weasel and supplied information and materials to the rebel Foot when members were allowed to leave the main headquarters building. No one knew where he ever got this information from, but he had helped them succeed in escaping, so he was never questioned. No one really knew a whole lot about Elijah's background, but he had helped them on multiple occasions and in the end he had become friends with everyone, so he was now a group regular. The only thing they all knew was that his and Emma's parents were very strict and overprotective. Because of this, Emma had been sheltered and watched over constantly by her parents, hence why she had absolutely nothing to do with the Foot or even helping fight back against them.  
Everyone had to be careful when these three teen girls were around. They knew about the Foot and that everyone in the room was ex Foot members, but they didn't know about all the secrets that came along with it: the mutagen, the mutants, or the mutagenic powers that Sam now had. Because of this, people had to watch what they said when these three girls were in the room.

Knowing this, Sam waited until she could finally talk to Jillian and Lindsay alone to gain some intel on the Mutanimals. Eventually she gained her moment to wave the two women over and then asked her questions.  
"Hey, how have things been?" Sam asked, crossing her arms across her chest. Jillian Amante and Lindsay Baker had been working with the mutants since their first mutation day back at headquarters, and they were some of the very few people who went underground and helped care for and work with the Mutanimals as they lived in hiding, along with Professor Jordon Perry that was.  
Jillian was the first to talk. "From what we've been told everything is going well. Professor Perry has been traveling with them in the truck and according to my brother's update earlier, everyone arrived and settled in at the Amante and Kurtzman cabins in the outskirts of the city a couple hours ago. If and when Shredder returns, it's going to be awhile before he finds them, especially since the professor has already started setting up security measures. How are the turtles doing?"  
Sam sighed and swung her hands some, a look of hurt displayed on her face.  
"They're getting by. Leo took it the hardest that they didn't catch Shredder last night, but overall they were all mostly upset since they can't go above ground to hunt him down now" she replied with a sad nod of her head.  
Jillian formed a similar expression. "I hadn't thought of that."  
Sam flashed her a small grin. "Don't worry about them though, they're all tough. Once they're focused on something then they'll work their asses off until they follow through. They just needed some down time to get their mojo back, and when I left the lair they were all a lot better…well, except Leo."  
Now Lindsay added in. "Tell your boy in blue not to worry just yet. According to Jade, Shredder hasn't made a noticeable reappearance yet, so there's still time to act before Shredder does."  
Lindsay's older sister, Jade Baker, was a police officer and the right hand woman to the chief of the police department, Rebecca Vincent. Jade was one of the few who was not actually a member of the clan, but because her younger sister had been captured and kidnapped, she worked day and night towards finding ways to communicate and help her, and now she was an advocate for the NYFS organization.  
"Hey Lotus," Lindsay called out, waving the young Japanese woman over, "you're still in communication with friends who escaped from the Tokyo branch, right?"  
"That's correct. Why?"  
"Have they heard anything about Shredder reappearing in Japan?"  
Lotus shook her head. "None of them have said anything, and there's a lot of people who are on the lookout for him in fear that he'll find them and force them back in. People in branches throughout the world and even other criminals who had connections with him are on the lookout in fear that he'll come for them, but so far no one has heard anything anywhere. It's still freaky, not knowing when he'll appear or where."  
From where Sam was standing, she could see the goosebumps on the back of Lotus's neck as she spoke. Sam put a hand on her friends shoulder.  
"Don't worry. You're safe here. No one is going to force you to go back to Japan, and everyone in this room is going to make sure you're safe."  
Lotus had lost her mother and father years back when her family was trying to run away from the Foot clan. Her parents were killed by Shredder himself when she was about 5 years old, and as a young child she was forced into the Foot clan. Now that she was free to live and do as she pleased, she feared that this freedom would be stolen away from her once again now that Shredder was free. She one day hoped to safely head back to Japan in hopes of finding a woman named Miwa. According to her mother, Lotus had a half-sister named Miwa from her mother's first marriage before her husband, Hamato Yoshi, was slain by Shredder's brother, Oroku Nagi, because he was also in love with her mother. Lotus's mother had no idea what ever happened to her first daughter, but Lotus always hoped that one day she could go back and find her. Right now those hopes were beginning to fade, but with the support of her friends, Lotus was fighting her best to continue keeping her hopes held high.  
Lotus looked back at Sam and patted her hand. "Thanks Sam, I'm glad I was moved to New York and found all of you guys."

The sentimental moment was interrupted as Brenda clapped her hands and announced that it was time to move to the next room. The church had a large open room towards the back of the building and this was going to be used for the reception later on after the wedding itself was over. Because Jay and Brenda were the upbeat and outgoing couple that they were, they wanted to perform some type of rehearsed dance routine with all their closest friends, aka everyone that was here today. The dance was more so for fun and humor than anything else, but the couple still wanted the humor and fun to be coordinated and planned.  
The dance started with a number performed by everyone in the wedding party, then it switched to all the adults, then to all the teens, then to all the men, then to all the women, then there were small routines that were performed by each individual family group, and the last performance involved all the groups as whole coming together for a grand finale.

The dance rehearsals alone took a few hours, so April had to leave once they finished, but Sam ended up staying at the church with the rest of the large group as more errands were run, decorations were set up, and the entire day of the wedding was put into a full run through. There was also a planned brunch that took place, but everyone had stayed so late that they all went out to dinner together at the mall as well and hung out there for a couple of hours. Sam made sure to keep checking her phone every so often in case the turtles needed her for anything important, and around 9p.m. she received a message from Mikey stating: _Hey Sam! We met up with April and now we're all heading back to the lair. She found some cool looking stuff that Donnie gets to look at in his nerd lab. Meet up with us soon if you can!"  
_ And with that, Sam said farewell to her friends and headed for the nearest alley with a manhole cover lurking in the shadows.

 ***9:20p.m., a tunnel not far from the lair***

She didn't know how to explain it, but Sam had this feeling that something wasn't right. She had this feeling that someone in the lair was in serious trouble, and for an even stranger reason she felt that it was Sensei who was being attacked. Worry suddenly began to build and without realizing it Sam was now sprinting towards the lair. That's when she saw him. She was running towards and was now passing through the entry way right by the kitchen as she saw the back of a man with very short thin hair standing alone and in front of the turtle's truck. He was holding a hockey stick and a hockey mask as he continued to face the truck. Sam had no idea who this man was, but even without the evidence she just assumed that this was the man who was going to attack Splinter, and because of this she continued to sprint over towards the man. Seeing the hint of blue appear in the reflection of the yellow truck, the man turned around just in time to see the teenage girl run up and slam her arm against his chest and have him slide back and collide against the truck.  
Luckily, Splinter had been sitting at the eatery and had whipped his tail forward and wrapped it around Sam. She still landed her arm against Casey's chest, but it didn't push him back anywhere near as forcefully as it would have if she had followed through with the attack and had not been pulled backwards. Splinter held Sam in the air as she wriggled and squirmed like crazy in the grasp. She hadn't even seen Splinter as she dashed into the room, and now she didn't realize that it was he who was trapping her. She continued to squirm violently until Splinter sensed Leo sprinting over. Sam was dropped once Leo was standing under where she was being held in the air, and as soon as Sam's feet hit the ground once again, Leo swung his arms around her and held her tightly while she continued to squirm.  
Splinter ran over towards Casey to make sure that he wasn't seriously injured as Leo tried to talk down Sam.  
"Sam! Where's your head at?" Leo exclaimed to the girl in front of him.  
"Splinter's in trouble! Someone's hurting him!" Sam shouted.  
Now the others were running into the room as well.  
"Sam, Splinter is fine! You're the only one hurting anyone!" Leo called out.  
"Sam the new guy is our friend!" Mikey shouted as he ran up to where Sam and Leo were standing. He then put his hands on Sam's shoulders. "Everyone is safe, just calm down."  
Mikey then looked back at Casey who was being tended to by April and Splinter. "Man, things are just not going your way today, are they Casey Jones?" he teased.  
Sam's head shot up and finally she had remained still. "Jones? As in Shadow and Jaxon Jones's cousins Casey Jones?" she asked.  
"Who?" Leo asked.  
"Ugh, yeah. They're my cousins. Who's asking?" Casey groaned as he was able to regain his balance and stood back up as Splinter and April helping him walk up the stairs.  
"I was just with them earlier today. They're my friends." The colors were now fading from Sam's eyes as she continued to stand still. Mikey nodded to Leo and the two turtles removed their hands and took a step back, testing to see if Sam had officially calmed down.  
"Sam's your name huh? You Jay's sister?" Casey asked.  
"Who's asking?" Raph snarled.  
"Hey, it's fine" Sam cut in. "He's an ally, specifically he's a police officer who is also an advocate for the NYFS. My brother has mentioned his name before, and he's relayed information to Jaxon and Shadow in order to help fallen Foot members." Sam then turned to face Casey. "It's nice to meet you" she said as she nervously put her hand forward.  
Casey was hesitant, not sure what to do after what he had just seen from the girl.  
Sam pursed her lips together. "Sorry, I can…sort of explain what just happened, but honestly I don't even know myself."  
Casey could detect the guilt in the way the girl talked and sensed that she hadn't meant to attack him the way she just had, and because of this he smiled as he extended his hand and shook the opposite hand in front of him.  
"It's fine, I can't imagine what you've been through that leads you to do that."  
Sam smiled. "Long story, but I can explain that another day."  
"I want to know how you knew Sensei was in trouble" Donnie cut in, "you weren't even here when that happened."  
"When what happened?"  
Casey cut in. "When these two tricked me into attacking their dad who then slammed me into the ground" Casey announced in frustration as he rapidly pointed his finger bath and forth between Raph and Mikey, who then looked off in the distance like they had no idea what was going on.  
Sam turned towards the two and tilted her head in annoyance. "Seriously? We find an ally and you guys are already bullying him?"  
"Hey, it's not my fault he's gullible. He should have been prepared for anything" Raph said with a smirk.  
"Now listen-" Casey started, only to have Sam hold her hand up to silence him.  
"Raph, say fort" Sam stated.  
Raph gave her an odd look, but did as he was told. "Fort."  
"Now say it three times."  
The large turtle rolled his eyes, already knowing this trick. "Fort, fort, fort."  
"Now what do you eat soup with?"  
Raph crossed his arms across his chest. "Haha, you want me to say fork but I know you eat-"  
Within a second, Sam's eyes went blue as she swung her arm forward towards Raph's chest and then down, shoving him into the floor where he was standing. She used enough force to knock Raph off his feet, but not too much that it would hurt him. This would only leave him winded for a minute or so and then he would be fine.  
"Huh, I thought you would have been more prepared for that" Sam said with a devilish smile as Raph glared back up at her.  
Splinter shook his head with a smile as he exited the room. April and Donnie chuckled as Leo rolled his eyes. "Sam's back to normal" the oldest mumbled.  
"Whoa that was awesome!" Mikey exclaimed with his arms in the air.  
Casey had been standing there with his jaw dropped in awe, but Mikey's exclamation confused him.  
"Wait, aren't you next?"  
"HA! No! This ass kicking woman is my best friend!" he said as he threw his arm around Sam.  
She nodded in response. "That's right, I couldn't hurt him even if I wanted to."  
"Heck yeah!" Mikey then put his hand up for a high five, only for Sam to miss and 'accidentally' high five his face.  
"Dude!"  
"Hehe, my bad. Guess I can hurt you, but not on purpose."  
Mikey shot her a playful glare before turning to walk towards the fridge and get a can of Orange Crush from the fridge, and in doing so, missing Sam turn towards Casey and wink at him to signal that that was the best Mikey was going to get as punishment for his actions. As Sam turned to follow Mikey, she saw that Donnie was holding a dart with a purple liquid in it.  
"Oh Donatello, what is that?" Sam said, quickly walking up and invading Donnie's personal space as she tried to put her face up to the purple ooze.  
Donnie smiled as he gently pushed the girl away from him and created a small gap between them.  
"April, do you mind telling Sam everything you told us earlier?"  
April nodded. "So I gained access to Baxter's lab. When I got there, I saw that Shredder was there to." April paused when she saw Sam close her eyes for a few seconds, processing the news she was just given.  
"Okay, then what?" Sam asked, opening her eyes.  
"So he had those two criminals with him from the night he escaped, Bebop and Rocksteady, and injected them with the purple ooze that Donnie is holding now."  
"Wait, ooze? As in mutagen?" Sam asked, her eyes widening.  
April nodded her head. "Yeah…"  
"Where did he get it?" Sam asked frantically.  
"Um, I'm not sure exactly. He said that someone named commander Krang gave it to him, but he never said who Krang was. He just jumped into talking about the three pieces he needed to open a portal for Krang so that-"  
"Wait what?! A portal to what?!" Sam exclaimed, eyes wide and an expression of fear on her face. "What the hell happened when Shredder disappeared for like, not even a full freaking day!?"  
"Ohhh it gets better" Raph grunted, walking back over and joining the conversation.  
"Shredder tested the mutagen out on those two criminals with him, and it turned one into a rhinoceros and one into a warthog" April stated.

Sam stood there in stunned silence. Multiple questions were racing through her head right now and she didn't even know where to begin, so words just started spilling out of her mouth.  
"Great, so we stopped him from creating a mutant army and we rescue all the mutants, and now he gains a brand new mutagen that allows him to do the exact same thing! I mean what the hell, where did he even get this new mutagen? We obtained and hid everything he had, so how did he-"  
"Wait, what?" Leo cut in sternly. "What do you mean it's hidden?"  
Sam turned towards him. "Our rebels had been smuggling all the mutagen they could get their hands on away from headquarters before the final night, and by the time the clan fell, every canister was relocated to a safe spot underground. A lot of people know this, but a very small select few know where the location is, mainly just Professor Perry and some of his assistants that worked with him in his lab during his time in the clan. But I just talked to a few of those few people today and they never reported anything going missing, and we would know by now if something was missing."  
Donnie's eyes widened as he realized what this meant. "Then that means, this Krang that Shredder met after being sucked into the portal on the highway, he had to have given this new mutagen to Shredder. There's a good chance that Krang has been his supplier in secret all along."  
"Ughhhh" Sam groaned as she put her hands behind her head. "This sucks. It's like we're starting back over at square on all over again."  
"There has to be something we can do" April cut in, not wanting everyone to feel defeated when the battle was just starting.  
"There is" Donnie stated, a smile of confidence on his lips. "I'm going to try and pin point a singular isotopic signature from this needle so that I can track our newly made mutant's location. You and Sam know how to use enough of my tech to listen in and to search for any information of Shredder's whereabouts."  
"I might be able to get some information" Casey added. All eyes were on him, waiting for him to explain,  
"I know a guy who works for the NYFS. He studies stuff like this."  
"And what exactly is 'stuff like this'?" Raph asked roughly.  
"Well we're talking about portals and mutagen and things that everyday people know nothing about, right? He looks into the real details. Like, when Shredder escaped, the news stated that the camera glitched and that's why the viewers saw the blue light, but he digs deeper and learns what really happens. He might have some information on what's going on."  
"So what about the rest of us?" Leo asked.  
Donnie shrugged. "Right now there's not much we can do until we track the location of one of our multiple bad guys. There's four of us working on that right now, so everyone else…be alert and ready to leave at any moment to apprehend our enemies."  
Leo and Raph looked at each other and shrugged, they weren't going to complain.  
"Holler if you need anything" Raph commented as he started heading towards his room on the opposite side of the lair.  
"Same here" Leo stated, turning around heading towards his bedroom.  
Casey pulled his phone out and walked over back towards the eatery so that he could make his phone call, and April walked over towards Donnie's many computers where she began using the monitors that Donnie had taught her about and started listening in to police scanners on some and searching for recent articles on others.  
Donnie followed April and then went back inside his lab to start working with the mutagen that he had.  
This just left the two best friends who then turned towards each other.  
"So I guess this means no comic books, huh?" Mikey asked.  
Sam couldn't help but laugh. "Unfortunately not, well not for me at least. What you do next depends on whether you're in a detective and curious mood, or if you're in an antsy and energetic one."  
Mikey crossed his arms across his chest and let his chin rest on one of his knuckles as he contemplated what he had just been told.  
"I CAN be in a detective mood, but it can't be super boring."  
"Hmmm, how about you go undercover on social media. You know, casually ask around if people saw what happened on the night Shredder escaped, act like a clueless teen and see if leads to anything interesting."  
"Now that is something that I am great at!" Mikey said, snapping his fingers and pointing at his friend in excitement since he could actually do something to help.  
"Using social media? Or being clueless?" Sam teased.  
"Social media! Wanna know what else I'm great at?"  
"What?"  
"This" Mikey said as he ruffled and messed up the girls hair.  
Sam just stood there and stared blankly at him. "I work hard to look good" she pouted.  
"Psh, lies! You literally wake up, brush your hair, and leave the house."  
"Okay you do realize I do other things to, right?"  
"Yeah you brush your teeth and stuff, but you don't accessorize" he said, wiggling his fingers in front of his face for dramatic effect.  
"Yes, and now my hair looks even worse than my original 'woke up like this' look. My soul hurts."  
"Ohhh your soul is fine!" Mikey said as he threw his arm around the girl's shoulder. "Now, to the couch for detectiving!"  
Sam chuckled as she walked over to the living room with her friend and they both plopped down on the couch.  
Just then, Casey walked out from the eatery. "I was able to get in touch with my source. Can someone lead me out of here so that I can go above ground and meet with him in person?"  
"I'll take you" April announced. "Sam?" she asked as she turned around towards the girl in the living room.  
Sam looked up from her phone at the two adults. "Don't worry, I'll check all the scanners in a little bit. I'm just going to make a couple calls to my own personal sources about something that just dawned on me first."  
"Alright good stuff. Make sure someone calls me if something important comes up" April replied, pointing her finger back and forth between Sam and Mikey.  
"Don't worry, I got your back" Mikey said, showing the o.k. sign with his fingers, which Sam then copied and signaled the same thing. With that, the two adults left the room.

"So who are you calling?" Mikey asked as leaned back against the couch and kicked his feet up on the pizza box coffee table in front of him.  
"I don't know why it didn't dawn on me earlier, but I know two of Stockman's relatives. Cousins to be exact" Sam replied as she sat down in a way so that her back laid on Mikey's left arm as she kicked her feet up on the other side of the couch.  
"Wait, what?" Mikey asked nervously.  
"Don't worry, they're good guys. They're both ex Foot."  
"Wait, if he knows what his cousins experienced in the Foot clan, then why would he team up with Shredder?" he asked in angered confusion.  
"From what I know, Baxter has always been jealous of his older brother Dexter. Because of this, he will do whatever it takes to work with the tech he needs to follow through with whatever ideas he comes up with. His cousins told me they warned him over and over again not to work with the Foot clan and that they will turn on him, but he's so caught up in his pride of one day being better than his brother that he tuned out what everyone told him about the clan. He even cut ties with people like Professor Perry, someone he went to university with, because he knew the professor would try to talk him out of his decision to work for the Foot clan."  
The frustration in Mikey's voice was evident as he spoke. "That's…disturbing, and selfish, and idiotic, and-"  
Mikey paused when he felt Sam grab his arm. She paused, still looking down at her device, but not moving. She was testing to see if he was okay, and her touch had made him realize how dark his voice sounded. He calmed himself, and Sam removed her hand once she could sense this.  
"A lot of us feel the same way" Sam said, breaking the silence. "But we're going to stop him before he can go berserk and continue to make decisions he will regret down the road."

With that, the two got to work. Sam called her friend Joshua Stockman and then called his older brother, Cameron Stockman, only to learn that neither currently knew of their brother's whereabouts. They gave her the number to contact their older cousin Dexter Stockman…only to discover that he also knew nothing about his brother. The only information she had gained through these three phone calls was that they were all worried about their relative, and that none of them could do anything to get Baxter to return home and keep away from the Foot clan. Sam sighed and stood up from the couch.  
"Hey, you good?" Mikey asked.  
Sam swung her arms and stretched. "Yeah, I just spent time calling people only to gain absolutely nothing from doing so. I'm going to grab some equipment from Donnie's lab and then I'll be right back."  
As Sam started walking towards the lab, she could hear Donnie talking to himself as he continued to study the ooze.  
"Alright Donnie, you got this, okay."  
Sam smiled and did her best to move as quietly as possible so that she didn't disturb her friend.  
"Alright, dissolve the quadra helix bonds, reverse the cohesion, wait…" he then looked up from his magnifying glasses and tools in curious shock, "that would mean…is it really possible?"  
"I'll take Dorkatello has made a discovery for 500" Sam said as she continued to look through shelves and drawers for various devices.  
Donnie spun around and looked at her. "Oh, when did you get here?"  
"Less than a minute ago. I'm just grabbing some devices for tracking and what not. Is everything okay?" she asked as she turned her head to face him.  
"I think I discovered something life changing. No offense, but-"  
"Don't worry, I know that when you're in the zone you need everything silent with no distractions. Ahh, found the last gadget, so I'm out of here" she said with a smile.  
Donnie mimicked the same expression. "Thanks Sam. I promise I'll explain more about it once I'm done."  
"Oh I know you will. You're not allowed to react like that and then exclude me, that's where war begins."  
Donnie rolled his eyes and then turned back around to get to work, and Sam made sure to shut the door behind her as she left the room.

She then returned to her spot on the couch and started setting up tablets, radios, cameras, all different types up devices so that she could listen in on others conversations and hack online documents (all mostly coming from police headquarters).  
"Hey, you sent in your application for Blair, right?" Mikey asked as he listened in to different stations after Sam had instructed him on how to do so.  
"Yeah, I did that a while ago, why?"  
"Wellllll?" he asked.  
She wanted to tease him, but she was so excited that she couldn't contain her joy filled smile as she gave him a thumbs up.  
His eyes went wide as he pat his best friend on the back. "Yes! I knew it! Sweet, even during college for the next four years you'll still be close to home!...oh, I mean *cough* I would have supported you no matter where you wanted to go" he said as he then looked off into the distance.  
"You don't have to lie, I'd be a liar if I said I'd be happy if you guys decided to live in the sewers in another city. But lucky for you your best friend is someone who likes to permanently stay close to home, and Blair has everything I could ask for in a university."  
"Heh, including giant mutant ninja turtles living close by."  
"Oh that's my favorite part" Sam teased. She then stood up and started walking towards the left.  
"Hey, where you going?" Mikey called after her.  
"Bathroom. You want to join, since you need to know my every move?" she mocked.  
"If you're not hurt then nah, Splinter would kill me" Mikey said, looking and fidgeting with the hand held radio the entire time he spoke.  
Sam nodded her head. "Not exactly the answer I was expecting, but I'll take it."

 ***A couple minutes later, leaving Mikey's room (she used the bathroom that was in his room)***

As Sam entered the hallway, she could hear Donnie calling out to Leo. By the time she reached the entry way into the rest of the lair, Donnie was already standing in the doorway to his oldest brother's room. The genius must have been consumed in whatever he was thinking about since he obviously hadn't noticed Mikey on the living room couch and now he obviously couldn't sense that Mikey was hiding by a ledge nearby where the bedroom was.  
Sam silently creeped out from where she was standing and scaled along the wall to the right. She didn't know why she needed to be so sneaky, but Mikey was acting suspicious, so she assumed he was listening to something he shouldn't be and then assumed that she wasn't supposed to hear this either, but of course she was still going to. She then quickly snuck out through the exit by the living room and then hid near the entry way leading into the kitchen. She stood in the entry way at an angle where it would be extremely difficult to see her from where Donnie was standing. She listened carefully as the oldest and third oldest brothers talked.  
"Leo. Okay, so I made a solution from the sample of the purple ooze to expedite an analysis of the isotope. But while I was waiting for it to catalyze, I started thinking that if the purple ooze can turn humans into animals, then perhaps if properly reengineered, then it could turn us…into humans."  
There was a pause before Donnie began speaking again. Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing, and her curiosity grew larger after she saw Mikey and his awestruck expression as he looked down at his hand. What was going on in there?!  
"If we could get our hands on more of this stuff, it could be life changing" Donnie continued, but then there was another pause.  
Now it was Leo who spoke. "We don't need that kind of change."

Sam didn't know exactly what it was, but she felt a slight pain in her chest when she heard this. It wasn't a physical pain, but rather an emotional one. There were so many opportunities that all four of the turtles could experience if they could switch over to look like humans every once in a blue moon, and she had never told ANYONE this, but there were times where she would have given almost anything to experience certain things with her turtle friends. This was the selfish side to her emotional hurt. She loved all her human friends, but she also loved the turtles very much with all her heart and they were her family. She wished she could take them to ride the roller coasters at different amusement parks, and she wanted to take them to nice water parks as well. During Halloween she would have loved to go to a haunted house with the guys (and she purposefully would have teamed up with Mikey to scare the heck out of the older three brothers). She wanted to travel with the guys, and if she ever got the chance to travel to Japan and South Korea, then she wanted to have the turtles by her side as she did so. She also would have loved to travel to more local destinations, like the beach and the boardwalks down in New Jersey. Even simple things like ice skating she had never been able to do because all the skating rinks were in highly populated locations in the heart of the city. There was so much that she would have loved to show to the guys and experience with them, and hearing Leo shut down the idea hurt her heart in a way that she was not expecting.  
The other emotional pain came from seeing her best friend's reaction. Sam could see that Mikey's heart also broke when he heard his older brother dismiss the idea of ever getting to be human. There was so much that he wanted to experience in life, and he had the perfect personality to just blend in with large crowds of people and have fun and experience new things. Sam would have given anything to provide such an opportunity to her best friend, even if it meant him leaving her so that he could meet hundreds and thousands of new people as he journeyed into the city and into the world, but seeing him so happy would have been worth it. But any and all thoughts of this were shut down immediately after Leo made his call.

Sam was awakened from her thoughts as she heard Donnie talk once again.  
"Okay. You're right. To blend in with humans could compromise our strategic advantage. We have a system that works, we shouldn't mess with the formula.  
"…and Donnie," Leo called back, "you can't say a word of this to the others."

Sam's eyes went wide. Donnie was loyal as anything and would basically follow any order that made sense, and he would follow it regardless if the order came from one his family members, especially their oldest brother and leader. Sam couldn't imagine what was going on through Donnie's head right now. Not only had he been given a red light on continuing to study something that was probably racing all throughout his mind, but now he was being told to lie and keep secrets from his other two brothers who happened to be the most emotional in the family as well.  
Sam felt anger towards Leo. She knew he was trying to protect them and that no matter what he didn't trust the idea of blending in with humans for a variety of reasons, but to handle the situation this way was ridiculous and wrong.  
Her anger soon switched over to sorrow as she looked back to her best friend who was still in hiding as Leo grabbed something from the fridge and then returned to his room and as Donnie walked back to his lab. Mikey still looked so broken after hearing everything that Leo had said. He longed for a chance to live his life to the fullest, and within seconds the only opportunity he had ever had was ripped away from him, and he didn't even get a say in it! And the worst part, Raph knew none of this. Sam knew that all hell would break loose if and when Raph found out.

"*sigh* Things are going to get pretty hectic around here soon, I just know it."

 **Sorry if you guys thought that the beginning was a lot of unnecessary backstory and added info about all the human characters. I have plans for ALL of them in the future, some of them you might have ideas as to how since I included their last names, but they will all have various roles that they will play as the series continues on. I'm still making up some parts as I go and as I re-watch the different series and continue to learn about the various series and what happens in each, but even before I started doing that I already had so many ideas of what I wanted to do with this series. So these characters will come into play, but I apologize if the beginning felt like it just dragged on with talk of new characters. These should be a lot of the main characters outside of canon characters, though each of the teens does have an older sibling or two, but I decided that they won't need to be mentioned until later on if it becomes more important.**

 **Also, mini rant session here: So, as always, before I start drafting out the chapter I always go back and re-watch the scenes from the film so that I can make sure my scenes are blending in at the right time and match up to continue the flow of the story. As I was watching the scene where the turtles meet Casey in the alley for the first time, I love the moment where Raph and Mikey block off Casey so that he can't get close to April as she tells Donnie and Leo what she saw in Baxter's lab. These two clash so often because they always display the younger brother annoying the older brother, so I love this scene where they're joking around and messing with Casey as a duo, it's like a rare bonding moment the viewers never see…though sadly it meant torment for Casey xD**

 **I've also told friends before that I wish somehow there was a way where ALL recorded footage was released in the bonus features. Not just deleted and alternate scenes, but like all the recorded footage (not necessarily edited and animated, but at least the original recorded film itself). I believe it was Alan Ritchson who plays Raph who stated in an interview for one of the two films that based on all the scenes that were filmed that the movie could have followed two or three different directions, but because so much was left out, we only saw a small section of everything that was actually filmed. I WANT TO SEE WHAT OTHER DIRECTIONS THE FILM COULD HAVE GONE IN! I feel like that would get a lot more people to become interested in the film series as well. I'm still upset that as of now there is no green light for a third film even though there were 4 films in the contact the lead actors signed. Anyway, there was also an interview where Megan Fox and others mentioned the various action scenes they shot. Apparently there were scenes where the turtles threw April over their shoulders and ran to keep her safe from the Foot, yet we NEVER SEE THIS. Like I would have loved scenes like that! It would have been so cool, and honestly adorable, to see the guys be so protective towards her. And then in behind the scenes footage of the scene where the turtles meet Casey, literally as they're leaving the alley, Donnie holds onto April's arm and leads her out of the alley. That would have been awesome to see in the movie! Like I would love to see a straight roll of ALL footage that was shot but not used in the films, and not just these films either.**

 **Rant over, thank you for listening to TheNerdyTomboyNewb96 and her thoughts xD**


	33. Chapter 33

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #33

 ***Late night June 6** **th** **into the early morning of June 7** **th** **, Saturday into Sunday***

It was about 10:20p.m. when Leo and Donnie had finished talking and both had returned to the rooms they had originally left. Sam traveled back through the hallway in the sewers and returned through the entry way right by the living room. She walked over to the couch the exact same time Mikey did. They both turned and sighed as they plopped down and slumped into the cushions.  
Mikey dully turned his head so that he could look at Sam. "What happened to you?"  
Sam moved in the same way. "I heard the same conversation that you did" she mumbled.  
Mikey was a bit confused. He knew why he was upset about what Leo had said in regards to not needing the purple ooze to become human and the fact that he had done so without asking him, but how did that affect Sam?  
"Why does that make you upset?"  
Sam furrowed her brow and turned her head so she was staring straight at Mikey. "What?"  
"You heard what Leo said about the ooze, right?"  
Sam nodded her head. "Yeah, that you guys can't try to become human for a little while."  
Mikey's eyes went wide. "A little while? I want to mutate and be human forever man" Mikey said firmly.  
Sam displayed a confused expression. "Why? What's fun in that? I never would have met you guys if you were normal human beings-"  
"Yeah but you don't know that" Mikey said a bit forcefully. He wasn't rude in the way he spoke, but his tone became a lot more serious. "If we were human then maybe we could have met you years ago. Maybe we could have even met your family and became friends with them."  
Sam was stunned. "I never knew you felt that way. I know you wanted to go on the surface and all, but I never knew you wanted to change your entire life like that, or that you had thought that much into it."  
Mikey leaned back into the couch and tilted his head so that he was looking up at the ceiling as he spoke. "I've always wondered what it would be like to live life up top. I don't regret how my life has been though. I've had a great life for 16 years, but…I just want to add to it, you know? There's so much still out there and I'll never get to experience any of it" he said glumly.  
Sam looked away and stared forward towards the t.v. as she also slumped back into the couch. She had to look away somewhere, she couldn't stand to see her best friend so hurt.  
"I wish there was something I could do to help you out…" she muttered.  
Mikey picked up on this instantly and now felt the exact same way. He couldn't stand to hear the sorrow in his friend's voice, and ever since he saw her cry a year ago during her sibling's anniversary, he had vowed he would do his best to keep her happy and safe. Thinking of this, he realized that his words were depressing her and he decided to try and switch the conversation around.  
"Sam, you already do a lot for us, and for me."  
Sam continued to look forward as she sat silently.  
A smile formed on the turtles face. "Sam, who helped me build the rec rooms with stuff that I had never used before like go karts and trampolines and rock climbing walls?"  
"….me."  
"And who helped sneak me in to awesome places like the movies, the mall, and laser tag?"  
"…I did" Sam replied in a more firm tone.  
"And who is the only one who supports me at times like when I wanted to go up to the surface during the Halloween parade?"  
"I am" Sam said with a confident nod as she finally turned to face her friend.  
"Exactly! You already do a lot to make like more exciting."  
Sam smiled at her friend, appreciating his kind words.  
Mikey then realized that Sam had never answered his original question.  
"Hey, you still never told me why you were so upset when you heard Leo say that we couldn't try to become human" he said, squinting his eyes at her in curiosity.  
Sam quickly looked away as a light but still noticeable blush came across her cheeks, which shocked the heck out of her.  
 _"What the hell? I don't want him to know all that I want to experience with him and his brothers, too mushy, but why I am getting so embarrassed about this?"  
_ "Sammmm?" Mikey questioned, leaning forward to peak around at her since she had turned her head the other way. That's when he noticed the light red in her cheeks.  
"Hey are you okay? Your face looks kind of red" he said with a slight hint of concern in his voice.  
Sam thought of a white lie to use to hide her true thoughts. She whipped back around and spoke in a 'matter of fact' tone.  
"I just got concerned when I saw you react the way you did."  
This wasn't a lie. In fact, she was extremely upset when she saw the sorrow filled expression on Mikey's face after he heard Leo speak, but this was not the true reason as to why she was blushing. But Mikey would never know this truth.  
 _"Huh, now I'm keeping secrets. What is happening to me?"_ she thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Mikey displaying a beaming smile.  
"Dawwwww were you worried about me?" he teased.  
"Psh, me? Never" Sam said as she crossed her arms and looked away.  
"You care about me" Mikey said, poking his friend in the shoulder.  
Sam opened one eye and peeked back over her shoulder at him. "Do I know you?"  
"Your hair does" Mikey said with a devilish grin, and before Sam could process what this meant, he was already ruffling her hair, again.  
"No! I'll have to brush it again!" Sam said, literally twisting to swat his arm away and then rolling backwards off the couch and onto her feet.  
"Say you know me" Mikey said, slowly standing up from his spot on the couch.  
"Never" Sam said, a devilish grin of her own forming on her face.  
"Say ittttt." Mikey looked like he was about to pounce.  
"I. DON'T. KNOW. YOU" Sam said as she then went to dash out of the lair and into the sewers. Sam was quick, but Mikey had been quicker this time and extended his nunchuks so that the one side became a chain sickle (though he withdrew the blade to keep his friend safe) and launched it towards her in time for it to swing around her and pull her back. As Sam was forced into Mikey's arms, he wrapped his arms around her and held her so that she faced away from him. He knew that she had the mutagen based strength to break free with ease, but she would never do this because it could harm her friend. This meant that with just her strength alone, she was trapped, and he was free to mess her hair up as long as he pleased.  
"Alright tomboy. You hate make-up, but you love keeping your hair as straight as you can get it. Talk now, or the strands will fly" he said in a menacing voice, but in a playful way of course.  
Sam laughed her ass off the entire time as she tried to wriggle out of his grip, but again, her normal muscle was nothing compared to Michelangelo's. After a couple minutes of trying and having a hand mess up her hair, she finally admitted defeat.  
"Alright! I know you!" she laughed.  
"Who am I?"  
"Mikey."  
"What am I?"  
"Picky."  
"Wrong."  
"Greedy."  
"Sammmmmm."  
"I was supposed to admit I knew you, not label you!"  
"Last chance!"  
"You're my best friend and you're like my brother."  
Mikey let go of the girl, who quickly started running her hand through her messy hair.  
"Gosh Sam. We're cool and all, but I think you're getting way too attached to me. I mean I barely even know you, but I'm like you're brother? Like this is too much" Mikey said, his hands up as he backed away like a celebrity trying to walk away from the press.  
Sam glared at him with a smile. "You better get back over here and fix this" she demanded.  
Mikey didn't even have to ask for her brush as he reached for her bag on the side of the couch and within seconds pulled out the brush she used every day.  
Mikey sat on one end of the couch while Sam sat criss-cross in front of him.

About five minutes into Mikey brushing the girl's hair (something he had become good at over the past year, that and helping her paint her nails) Sam heard her phone go off.  
"I got it" Mikey said as he paused the brushing and reached into the bag and handed Sam her phone. This way she wouldn't have to move while he continued to 'work his magic', Mikey's words of course.  
Sam looked at the caller I.D. and then answered the phone. "April. What's up?"  
 _"Hey, is everything okay back at the lair?"  
_ "What exactly do you mean by that?" Sam questioned.  
 _"I called Donnie a few minutes ago to send him updates and he still hasn't answered his shell cell. What does that mean?"  
_ Sam pursed her lips together as she answered. "Uhh, let's just say there was a verbal…incident that happened. Nothing major, but I think it might have put Donnie in a bit of a funk."  
 _"Is everything okay?"  
_ "Yeah, all will be fine. I think he just needed some space for a little while. I'll update you when I see you in person again. But I can relay the updates to him now if that's okay."  
 _"Thanks Sam. So Casey contacted Jade and found out that the full canister of the ooze is being held at police headquarters. So at least we know that it's safe for now. He also learned through a few other sources that a team of Foot soldiers was getting their gear together and was about to move soon."  
_ "*sigh* well that's just awesome."  
 _"Heh, I feel the same way. We're heading back now so that we can all discuss things further. And Sam-"  
_ "Don't worry I'm heading in to check up on him now. Talk to you soon April."  
 _"Thanks Sam. See you soon."_

Sam hung up the phone and stood up from the couch.  
"I'm going to go talk to Donnie for a little bit."  
Mikey signaled the 'o.k.' symbol and reached for the remote after putting the brush back into the bag.  
"He's in his room" he called over to Sam who had started walking towards the lab.  
She froze and listened carefully as she realized that there were no sounds coming from inside the lab and then turned towards the right side of the lair where Donnie's room would be.  
"Bingo!" Mikey called out.  
Sam turned to thank him and then walked across the lair towards Donnie's room.  
 _"Wow, I guess Donnie's not the only one in a funk. I never realized he had left the lab. What's scarier is that Mikey sensed something that I didn't! Either I'm losing my focus due to emotions again or Mikey is getting better at picking up on small details."  
_ As Sam was walking past the kitchen, Leo also happened to exit his room at the same time. The two were about to cross paths, so Sam shot him a quick small smile and then continued on, hoping he wouldn't say anything in concern of her quick and somewhat suspicious expression. Leo did slow his steps for a couple seconds, but he continued to look forward and decided that that girl was fine, so he continued to walk over towards the raised pipe in the central part of the lair so that he could train. Sam was just grateful that he hadn't stopped her. She would always love and support Leo like he was her own brother and also since he was the leader of all the turtles, but she really didn't want to talk to him right now, and if she was being brutally honest, she didn't even really want to look at him right now. She still needed to let her own emotions and mindset simmer down some or else she would accidentally talk sassy to him even if she didn't mean to do so and would end up making things worse.

Once Sam reached her destination she knocked on the door to Donnie's room and heard a mumbled "it's open."  
She slowly opened the door and poked her head inside to see Donnie fidgeting with a small device that could be used as a scanner at his gaming space, which was basically a large and cushioned cut out section of the wall that formed a huge circle for him to lay in.  
"Hey, you okay?" she asked as she walked in and took a seat in the swivel chair at the desk in his room.  
He continued to look at the scanner he was messing with as he spoke. "I'll be fine."  
Sam pursed her lips together. "I guess you're still hurting from Leo's words to huh" she said as she stood up and adjusted her position so that she was sitting on the now turned around chair so that she could lay her arms across the top.  
This caught Donnie's attention as he quickly looked up at her and frowned.  
"You were spying on us?"  
Sam paused. "No…I was spying on Mikey…who was spying on you two."  
Donnie groaned. "What is wrong with you two? Don't you know anything about privacy?"  
"Of course I do. That's why I knocked on your door before entering."  
Donnie sighed. "So what exactly did you hear?"  
"You adjusted the purple ooze so that it could turn you human, permanently apparently, and you got super excited and Leo shot it down within seconds."  
A confused expression covered the turtles face. "Why do you sound upset with us permanently becoming human? It would be such an incredible discovery in biology and other sciences!"  
Sam's face blushed a tad bit again. "It just wouldn't be the same."  
"That's the point though! So much would change!" Donnie said, slightly raising his voice as he now sat up on his curved seat.  
"But…I met you guys because you look and live like this…"  
Donnie stared at Sam eye to eye. "I understand that, but with your intelligence, I'm sure we still would have met somehow. If I went to school then we'd probably end up in a lot of the same after school groups. And then as an adult, if I had the chance to be human and work with real scientists, who knows what we could come up with together. I mean yeah I can accomplish a lot on my own, but with a team, who knows what we could do! And that's just me! Who knows what all of us could accomplish if we lived normal lives like everyone else. My inventions and my discoveries with my team of different scientists in different fields could create so many things that could change life as we know it. Wouldn't you want that for me? For all of us?"  
Sam was a bit taken aback by how much thought Donatello had put into such a situation that until an hour or so ago would never have seemed possible.  
Her face told Donnie that she was sad, but also that she understood what he wanted and why.  
"Of course I want that for you, and I know you would do incredible things for this world. I also want you to be human at times so that I can show you more of what the world has to offer. But…I don't want you guys to change forever. More so temporarily. Plus if you were human then I wouldn't be able to hang out with you in some of the ways that I do."  
"Sam, you do realize that YOU are a human and even before the mutagen you were fighting bad guys and sneaking into buildings and running across rooftops, right?" Donnie said, smiling for the first time in over an hour.  
Sam paused, soaking in her friend's words. "Well I guess that one is true. I don't know, I just wouldn't want it to be a permanent thing. I can't find the words to explain why I feel that way, but I know I just do. Sorry if that's rude or anything" she said, looking down towards the ground.  
Donnie chuckled. "Sam, there's nothing wrong with you not wanting us to change because you don't want to lose us."  
The girl quickly turned her head back to look at the turtle in front of her. "Wait, what?"  
"You're afraid that if we become human we're going to end up talking to a bunch of other people and you think we won't have time for you, right?"  
Sam's eyes went wide. "I wasn't thinking that, but now I am."  
"That would never happen smarts. We're not going anywhere, but I do understand why you would only want us to be human on temporary occasions. *sigh* but even if I could do that, Leo would still shoot it down in mere seconds again."

Sam saw the turtle lean back into his curved seat with a glum expression again, but now she was too caught up in her own thoughts to sense anything else.  
Had she been afraid they wouldn't talk to her? Was that thought hiding in the back of her mind the entire time and she hadn't even realized it? She knew she didn't want them to be humans forever if they had the chance to become human at all, but she wasn't able to explain why she had felt this way. Was this really the reason why? She knew that the other night when Mikey went to join the Halloween parade that she had come to terms knowing that if he wanted to talk to other people that she would be okay if he left her alone since he was a naturally social person, but was she really okay with that? Did she really fear that all of the turtles would leave her in the dust if they had the chance to meet new people? Would she be okay if they all acted this way? If these thoughts were hiding in the back of her mind, then what else was lurking in her subconscious that she didn't even realize was there?!  
"Sam?"  
Sam looked up to see Donnie staring at her as he continued to lean back in his curved seat.  
"What's up?"  
"…you okay?"  
Sam stared blankly at him. "Yeah I'm fine, why?"  
"I just asked you a question twice and you just sat there."  
"…Oh…well third times a charm."  
Donnie shook his head with a smile. "I asked if checking in was the only reason you came in here."  
"Oh no! That was reason number one. Reason number two is that April sent me some updates."  
His brow rose. "Oh, what did she say?"  
"She said that the ooze is being held at police headquarters and that Casey talked to some personal contacts who said that the Foot soldiers are getting ready to make their move."  
Donnie nodded his head. "That's good that the mutagen is being held there, but I have a bad feeling about the Foot soldiers. Shredder is up to something, and-"  
Just then, Mikey had slowly opened the door, and after no one told him to get out, he quickly rushed into the room and shut the door behind him.  
Donnie and Sam sent him questioning looks, ones that were not exactly happy either.  
"What did you do this time?" Sam asked.  
Mikey began poking his fingers together. "I…MAYYYYY have told Raph what I heard Leo and Donnie talking about earlier, hehe" he said timidly.  
Donnie's eyes went wide. "Are you serious? WHY?! He's going to lose his shit-"  
 _"HEY LEO! POP QUIZ!"_  
"*Sigh* again, why?" Donnie groaned.  
Mikey looked down at the ground in guilt. "I just needed someone to talk to about it you know? I mean, this is serious stuff and Leo totally just kicked us to the curb like we're not important and like our word means nothing…"  
Sam swung her arm so that her hand was motioning back and forth towards her and Mikey.  
"Hello! Hi! That's what I'm for! We literally talked about it not that long ago! I'm the one you go to so that you don't have to tell Raph about serious shit that will make him explode!"  
Donnie squinted his eyes at the pair. "What do you guys talk about so that Raph doesn't have to know about it?"  
"Not the point! You!" Sam said, looking back and pointing at Mikey, "why would you talk to him after we both just talked about this? You know that without telling him important info in a very calm and specific way will set him off."  
"Because I wasn't done talking about it yet and then you went to go talk to Donnie."  
"Well that doesn't make me feel bad" Donnie said in a low voice.  
Mikey rolled his eyes and waved his brother away. "Dude that's not what I meant and you know it! Of course I wanted her to check up on you, but like, the thoughts were still fresh in my mind, you know? Like I wasn't DONE talking about it, and everyone knows that you and Leo are good at giving advice and boosting people's confidence, but it's me and Raph who help cheer people up because we're the emotional ones, even though Raph will never admit that himself."  
Sam and Donnie looked at each other and nodded. They knew that was a fair argument. As rough and tough as Raph was, he could be just as sensitive as Mikey. Oddly it was one of the biggest traits the two had in common.  
"I guess I can accept that reasoning" Sam said with a smile as she put her hands behind her head.  
"I still want to know what you two have been hiding that you share only amongst yourselves" Donnie said with a questioning grin.  
Just then, his scanner went off. Donnie quickly typed in some codes on the device and tracked that the break in happened at the Museum of Natural History.  
"Shredder, and he probably has his soldiers and the new mutants…we have to tell them" Donnie said as he began to rush towards the door.  
Sam and Mikey followed him, and all three heard the continuing argument between the oldest two as they slowly (because they wanted to see the argument go down) made their way across the kitchen.

For now, Raph's voice was low as he spoke while standing alongside Leo, who attempted to keep himself calm by facing away from his brother and continuing his training session.  
"If there's even a chance that ooze could make us human-"  
"We're turtles, whether you like it or not" Leo said in a bitter tone.  
Raph's lower voice then got higher.  
"It's not about what I like. It's about what people are willing to accept."  
"True acceptance comes from within."  
Raph rolled his eyes, and as he now also spoke with large hand gestures, his voice continued to rise.  
"Don't give me that fortune cookie muck! You should consult with us before you decide to do something like that!"  
It could be seen that Leo was losing his temper as much as Raph was, especially since the two didn't realize that they had an audience of three watching them as they stood still on the other side of the room.  
Leo stopped his workout and stood up straight as he faced his brother.  
"I consulted Donnie, and we decided that there's nothing-"  
"And what about Mikey? We don't get a vote?!"  
Raph shoved Leo after making his comment, and this is what officially pushed him over the edge.  
"THERE'S ONLY ONE VOTE THAT COUNTS IN THIS FAMILY! Mine."

Leo continued to glare at his brother in a way that signaled that this battle was over and that his word was final. Raph just stood there in stunned silence as he glared back at his older brother. Donnie and Mikey stood there in shock since they couldn't believe that Leo could say such a thing. They knew he was the leader and their oldest brother, but this was going pretty far, even for him, and they wondered what had gotten into him to make him act the way he had been lately. Because of all this, no one noticed that Sam had spun around. She had no idea why, but for the first time she could sense something building inside of her and she knew her uncontrollable emotion was coming. Her eyes shone blue, but because she was now facing away from everyone, nobody knew that this was happening to her. She clenched her fists together and shut her eyes tight, fighting her best to calm herself down without bringing attention to herself while also hiding what was happening to her from the rest of the brothers, afraid that this reaction would somehow make things worse.

"Leo, an alarm just tripped at the Hayden planetarium. We have to get up town" Donnie informed, cutting off the painful silence.  
Sam turned her just a small bit, her eyes still blue (which everyone had yet to notice) as she peeked at Leo. To her disbelief, his head was actually turned to the side, almost as if he realized how harsh he had just been and like he regretted saying what he did to his brother. But she wasn't sure if he truly felt this way based on how he reacted right after.  
Leo jumped off the raised pipe and walked between Mikey and Donnie.  
"Gear up Donnie." He then lightly shoved Mikey as he walked by the two youngest. "Sam, you stay here, since the other night proved that you can't follow code either. Same goes for you two."  
Sam said nothing and instead continued to look away in a stance so that none of the brothers could see her face.  
Raph, fuming, leapt off the pipe while Mikey and Donnie both stood there with their arms up as a way to say 'are you serious?'.  
"YOU'RE BENCHING ME?!" Raph exclaimed.  
"Call it what you want!" Leo shouted back as he then stated to jog out of the lair through the exit by the truck.  
"What did I do?!" Mikey exclaimed, a pained expression displayed on his face.  
"Sorry guys" Donnie said with a shrug and an apologetic look before he also took off in a quickened jog to catch up with his oldest brother.  
If there wasn't a serious incident taking place than the three might have fought back some, but they knew that the city could be in danger depending on what just happened at the planetarium, so for now they all followed the orders they were given.

"Well that went well" Mikey pouted.  
"The nerve this guy has, big timing us! He may be fine with the status quo, but that doesn't mean we can't make our own decisions!" Raph bellowed as he stormed off towards the other side of the lair.  
Mikey was about to follow, but now that all the commotion had died down, he realized that Sam had yet to say a word, or even move for that matter.  
"Sam?" Mikey said in a low voice. He slowly walked around so that he could see his friends face, and for the first time he realized that her eyes had turned blue. Her eyes were closed, but the light still shone in a dim light.  
"Sam!" Mikey said as he gently put his hands on his friend's shoulders.  
Sam opened her eyes, her fists still clenched.  
"What happened?" Raph asked, quickly making his way back over towards the other two.  
"An enemy is attacking" Sam stated bluntly in a monotone voice.  
The two boys just looked at each other.  
"What do you mean by that?" Raph asked gently.  
"Someone is bringing chaos into your family. I must end him before he hurts all of you."  
Raph rolled his eyes. "There's no enemy. Leo was just being a prick."  
"He hurt you."  
Raph paused and thought of what to say next. "Yes, but I'm okay. See? My body is intact. No injuries."  
Sam tilted her head, though she was still looking at Mikey and not at Raph. "No injuries?"  
"Nope! Not a single one."  
The color faded from Sam's eyes and her hands were now calm.  
"I'm pissed at your brother" she said as she looked back and forth at the two turtles in front of her.  
Mikey released her arms and sighed. "We're not happy with him either."  
"Well we're going to show him that we can make our own decisions" Raph grunted.  
Sam nodded. "If you mean retrieving the purple ooze on our own, then I agree. Leo is leader, but you're not his minions, and he's not thinking straight."  
"Yeah!...so what's happening?" Mikey asked in confusion.  
Raph looked at Sam with a bit of shock. "Wait, you're going to help us?"  
Sam rapidly nodded her head. "The ooze is being held at police headquarters. The police are no match for the Foot, or else the clan would have disbanded years ago. If we don't act fast then Shredder will get it back and mutate more humans into mutants. I'm pretty sure he just took a team of soldiers and his new mutants with him to do who knows what at the museum, so now is the best time to get the ooze back. We have to stop him, and if Leo won't work with us, then we'll make a plan on our own. You guys are capable of doing that, and he should have more faith in you to do so."  
Raph's brow rose in surprise to the girl's words. "I'm used to you playing the protective sister, not the delinquent teenage runaway" Raph said with a smirk.  
Sam rolled her eyes. "This was me all the time after certain events in my life. Just be glad I'm on your side."  
Raph just shook his head. "Alright, let's start working on a plan.

Sam nodded and the two went back to the eatery to sit down and discuss what would happen in order for them to secure the ooze and protect it from the Foot…while Mikey was clueless and just followed along, wondering what it was they were all doing.


	34. Chapter 34

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #34

 ***Late night Saturday June 6** **th** **around 11:00p.m. into early morning Sunday June 7** **th** *****

It was just a little after 11p.m. when Leo and Donnie had left the lair, and it wasn't much longer after that when Sam and Raph began working together to form a plan on how to retrieve the purple ooze from police headquarters.  
"Alright. Before we can do anything, I need to hack into the headquarters database carefully so I can print out a layout of their building. I'm sure there's a specific area for classified items and this will help us try and figure out just where that is."  
Raph felt odd seeing Sam working at Donnie's seat and using his tech. For a short moment, a wave of guilt washed over him. He knew that Sam was allowed to use all of his brother's tech at this point in life, but the reason why she was using it left him with an uneasy feeling. He then closed his eyes and remembered why they were going behind his brother's backs and that this would be for a life changing cause, and after that, his head was back in the game.  
A few moments later the blue print was ready and the two began searching throughout the maze on the sheet that was the police headquarters building.  
"There."  
Raph pointed to a spot on the sheet that was labeled 'Evidence Room'.  
"This should be our spot. We need to find a way to get April and Casey to this room. Are there any sneak entrances? Or isolated emergency exits?"  
The two continued to look.  
Sam sighed. "Ironically the closest entrance towards this room is the front entrance itself. So before we can plan anything else, we need to figure out how we're going to get them past the cops at the head desk."  
Mikey then suddenly spoke as he was swinging his nunchuks around as he stood on the raised pipe nearby. He didn't really know all that the other two were talking about, but he was listening to bits and pieces.  
"Hey, what about the falcon?"  
Sam and Raph both looked at each other. Sam looked surprised while Raph just looked disgusted.  
"That…could actually work" Sam added with a smile.  
"Ugh, how could he possibly cause a distraction? What could he do?" Raph groaned.  
"People all throughout the city think that Vern is a hero, and that includes the police. He could go in and say that he came in specifically to visit them, butter them up you know? Then April and Casey could walk straight up to the check in station if Vern distracts the cops in a way so that they're attention is diverted from that station."  
Raph pursed his lips in defeat. "*sigh* Fine. If that's our best shot at getting things to work out in our favor, then I guess it's what we have to do."  
"Alright, now the next step is worrying about how they get checked in."  
"Oh!" Raph said as he looked up and stared at Sam with wide eyes. "Donnie has tech for that! He's used it before so that April could get into other places to find behind the scenes details for her news reports. Oh it's got to be in here somewhere" he said as he rushed into his brother's lab and began looking for the devices that allowed April's fake I.D. to be accepted at different locations. She had multiple fake I.D.'s in case one identity was ever discovered, but in order to use any of them then Raph needed to find the device that activated them.  
A couple minutes later, Raph walked out of the lab with a small square flash drive.  
"I know he uses this. If we can get Vern to plug this into a computer then April's fake I.D. should automatically be entered into the system" Raph said. He then paused as he noticed Sam rolling her hand in front of him, as if she was waiting for him to continue talking.  
"What?" he grunted.  
"You do realize you need more than JUST the flash drive, right?" she asked.  
Raph shrugged.  
Sam smiled as she stood up. "I need one of Donnie's tablets" Now it was her turn to scavenge through the nerd lab.  
"Why do we need a tablet? Vern can't take a tablet in with him. Only the flash drive can be used in secret" Raph called out to his friend from the door way of the lab.  
Sam continued to look through drawers and shelves as she talked.  
"Because the flash drive can set up the system, but the tablet allows us to tell the system what we want it to do. Basically one gets things running and the other guides what the final outcome will be. It's basically a super complex program that hardcore coders, aka your brother, are able to access. It's one of those things where the best of the best can find it and safely download it. I could never do, but once your brother introduced it to me I was able to get the gist of how to use it."  
Raph chuckled as he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway. "I thought you were supposed to be a genius to?" he said with a smirk.  
Sam shook her head and smiled as she continued her search. "I'm smart, but I'm not a genius. I can pick things up relatively quickly, but I can't always answer and discover things on my own like Donnie can. I'm just a lab assistant compared to him. Aha! Found it!"  
Sam picked up the tablet and then walked over to one of the computers within Donnie's lab.  
"Raph, walk over to that drawer over there and toss me one of April's fake I.D.'s."  
Raph did as he was told and Sam got to work once the card was in her hand.  
Raph walked over and leaned over the girl's shoulder as she typed and clicked away on the computer.  
"Sooooooo what are you doing now?" he asked.  
"Making sure that the program recognizes this specific card and the information on it. And according to this, everything matches up."  
"And this means?"  
Sam smiled as she pushed back in the chair and stood up as she lead the two back out of the room and over towards the blue prints by the collage of computers.  
"It means that once the flash drive is inserted into a computer at headquarters, then as long as we can get close enough, the I.D. will be accepted. But we need to see if the vents allow us to get close enough. Sadly that's the only downfall to the program. The main device has to be within close range in order for it to connect to whatever device is scanning her I.D. Sadly these are some of the cons of downloading programs like this. They're made in secret and are knock offs of official government tactics which means they can't be used as well as more professional programs."  
Raph, who had been looking at the blue prints while Sam talked, now looked up with a smile.  
"Well, I guess it's a good thing there's a vent way that cuts across the ceiling of the main entrance" he said as he pointed to the area he was talking about.  
Sam scanned the area quickly and nodded.  
"Man, the luck that we have right now is insane. This will work. That should be close enough for the program to connect. So we'll have the tablet in the vents and can quickly get the program working to accept April's I.D."  
"So then they go in, access the evidence room…wait, there's no way that there won't be cameras or something in that room."  
"Wait…" Sam said as she tapped on the screen for a few seconds. "Yup, this tablet has like a ridiculous amount of programs that do different things. One of them being a hacking program. I can easily rewind and alter the cameras so that April and Casey can basically walk right in without anyone ever knowing. Our main issue will be if there's anyone in the room itself."  
"In that case, we can always remove a tile from the ceiling and cause some type of distraction. You know, drop a smoke bomb or something to get everyone a bit frantic and away from that area. The three of us are slick enough that we could escape in no time and never get caught."  
Sam nodded her head.  
"I think we have a pretty solid plan" Sam said, putting her fist up for a fist bump.  
Raph sent her an annoyed and questioning look. "Are you serious?"  
"Right, I forgot. You're so cool and mature that you can't even fist bump. Wow, so mature. Total adult. Independence detected."  
"Oh shut up" Raph mocked as he lifted his hand up to follow through with the gesture.  
Sam had already put her hand down. "A fist bump? What are you, 5?" she teased, and then rolled across the table to dodge the light playful punch that Raph had swung her way as pay back for messing with him.

"Oh boy. Why are you rolling across furniture now?" April asked from across the lair near the kitchen, Casey following behind her. It was about 11:15p.m. at this point.  
Of course, now was when Mikey suddenly reappeared. "Hey! The Hogosha is back! What up gorgeous?"  
He, Raph and Sam all made their way over to the eatery and had a seat. Casey sat in the left seat with April next to him. Then Mikey sat across from her and had Sam sitting next to him and across from Casey. Raph stood along the side of the table as he talked. He explained, in a shockingly calm and nonchalant tone, how Leo and Donnie decided that it was best that the group split up for this next mission.  
April nodded her head as Raph explained where the other half had gone. "Okay. So they went to the planetarium to check out the tripped alarm. So what exactly is our mission then?"  
Raph fought his best to remain calm as he looked her in the eyes and spoke.  
"We need to retrieve the ooze from the evidence room at police headquarters."  
April tilted her head in confusion.  
"So you wanna break into police headquarters?"  
Sam nodded her head, doing her best to support Raph and make it seem like this was all normal and that everything was fine…and mentally praying that this all worked and that April wouldn't call Jay.  
Raph also nodded as he spoke.  
"Uhhh yeah. Donnie says we need more of the purple ooze to find Bebop and Rocksteady, and we're pretty sure it's locked up in the evidence control room by now."  
April continued to look skeptical.  
"Okay…and Leo is okay with this plan?"  
Raph paused, but then spoke with calmed confidence.  
"Actually I'm in charge on this one. Ain't that right Mikey?" he said, turning towards his youngest brother.  
"Errrr-RIGHT!" Mikey said with wide eyes that faced a concerned looking April.  
Sam rolled her eyes.  
"Okay that response doesn't count because he has no idea what's going on when food is in front of him."  
"Heyyy!" Mikey said, now facing his friend with sad eyes.  
"It's not an insult, just an honest truth" Sam said with a smile, handing her friend a napkin to clean all the food on his face.  
Mikey shrugged and took the napkin with a smile as Sam continued to talk.  
"Look, we split up into two teams just like Raph said. Leo and Donnie went after the area where Shredder and the mutants and the soldiers went to, and they left us here so that we could retrieve the ooze and keep it somewhere safe."  
"And that is?" Casey asked.  
"Underground with Professor Perry and the Mutanimals."  
"I'm sorry, who and what?"  
Sam sighed. "Professor Jordon Perry. He was forced to mutate a bunch of stolen animals using a man-made mutagen he had created 15 years earlier. This mutated all the animals so that Shredder could form a mutant army. All of them are now living safely underground and he and other scientists continued to study and hide all the mutagen that was anonymously sent to Shredder. That is where this new purple ooze belongs as well, and that's why we need to break into police headquarters to get it."  
April still seemed concerned about this plan, but her friends sounded serious (besides for Mikey who had literally been eating pizza the entire time) and she decided that this needed to be done.  
"Alright. So what's the plan?"  
Raph brought over the blue prints of the headquarters building and began explaining the plan to April and Casey about what each person would be doing. Meanwhile, Sam was stealing some of Mikey's pizza slices with a teasing smile.  
After hearing the entire plan be explained full way through, Casey formed a frustrated smile as he waved his hand in a means to signal his displeasure in what he had just heard.  
"Wait, I can't just walk right into police headquarters."  
Raph groaned. "What are you, chicken?"  
"Hey!" Casey stated as he stood up from his chair. "Who are you calling chicken? Turtle."  
Mikey rolled his eyes…and Sam stole another slice as he was distracted for that literal second.  
Raph lowered his voice, but not so low that it reached a menacing point.  
"Look. Do you want to find Bebop and Rocksteady, or not?"  
Casey paused as he thought this through, and Raph raised his brows as to say 'that's what I thought'.  
"So we're breaking into police headquarters" he said as he sat back down. "Oh wait. You're missing something. The access card for the evidence room."  
Sam tilted her head to the side. "What's that?"  
"You need an access card or else you can't get into the room."  
Sam thought about this. "Is this a card that specific people have? Or is this a card that every officer has?"  
"Every officer has that card and it has access to every room within the building."  
Sam nodded her head and looked up at Raph. "I'll hack into their system again as we head over to get Vern, wherever he is. I'll check their scheduling and see who is heading out. Hopefully they'll be isolated in the locker room and we can snatch a card from them. If that doesn't work" she then turned towards April, "then keep your phone close so I can update you in case we need to improvise."  
April nodded.  
"Alright. Is that everything?"  
Raph and Sam nodded.  
"I have all the devices we'll need in my backpack. The only thing we're missing right now is Vern. Can you contact him and-"  
"He's at a party at a park nearby" Mikey cut in.  
Sam looked over and blinked at him, surprised he had been paying any attention and that he had now provided information to further their plan. "And you know that how?"  
Mikey smiled as he turned the phone around and showed that he was looking at Vern's twitter page, and to Sam's amusement, it was her phone he was using.  
Sam frantically felt through the pockets of her hoodie. "When? How?"  
"Heh, you're not the only one good at stealing things when people aren't looking Sam" he said with a teasing smile.  
She nodded. "You're right. I'm also good at taking things bluntly." And with that she stole, yet again, another slice from him.

By 11:30p.m. everyone was now packing up and heading out the nearest exit…except for a confused Michelangelo.  
"Are we going somewhere?"  
Sam smiled and pulled at his arm for him to stand up.  
"Just follow along you dork" she said, her mouth still a bit full as she finished her last bite of the pizza slice.  
"How can you eat so much?" Casey asked as Sam switched out her mint green and pink jacket for a black colored one from her backpack.  
Mikey jumped in to defend Sam before she could even say anything.  
"Dude! She needs to eat, she's already thin as it is!"  
"What? She's not that thin" Casey replied.  
"*GASP* DID YOU JUST CALL HER FAT?!" Mikey shouted.  
"Wait what?! No of course not, but-"  
"Not cool man" Raph said as he glared and shook his head at Casey.  
"Oh come on! Obviously I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that she's not anorexically thin either! You guys make her out to be a twig!"  
"SO NOW YOU'RE SAYING SHE'S WEAK?!" Mikey shouted.  
Sam just walked behind the group, the tablet in her hand as she looked up information through the headquarters database, smiling silently as she walked next to April. The two were trying not to laugh and disrupt the interesting conversation that was happening in front of them.  
"Okay, okay! Sam is super physically fit and has the right amount of body weight for someone her age, okay?! That still doesn't explain how she can eat as much food as the 6 foot turtle next to her."  
"Excuse me sir, but I'm only 5'8!" Mikey announced.  
"Not the point! It's still insane that she can eat as much as someone who is larger than her!"  
"So now you're calling me fat?!"  
"Oh give him a break already" Sam said as she walked by Mikey and playfully shoved him.  
"Sam, you realize your shorts are mint green, right?" Mikey asked.  
Sam looked down and realized that she had switched to wearing a dark black jacket, but she had forgotten to change her shorts.  
"Oops. Thanks man. Here can you hold this?" she asked as she handed Mikey the tablet. She then swung her back pack around and unzipped it to pull out a pair of solid black Adidas shorts that covered the top of her hips and traveled down to cover her thighs, but wouldn't go so far down as to reach her knees.  
"Hey Raph hold this."  
Raph turned around just in time to catch the backpack that was beamed at his chest, though to him this was like catching a beach ball.  
Sam then started stripping her mint green shorts. Everyone was used to this, except for Casey of course.  
"Dude, give some warning first or something" Casey said as he covered his eyes.  
"What, you have a thing against awesome colored spandex?"  
Casey, taking a risk after hearing this, slowly removed his hand from his face and saw that the girl had been wearing a decently long pair of neon colors checkered with black spandex underneath her shorts. Basically she had been stripping, but nothing private was exposed.  
Casey just laughed and shook his head.  
"I guess this is normal to everyone else?"  
"Welcome to the life of living with a tomboy" Raph grumbled as he rolled his eyes. "Hurry up or I'm throwing this bag into a muddy puddle."  
"Alright I'm good" Sam said as Raph then tossed the backpack back to her. Mikey handed the tablet back to Sam and after a few more minutes she found the information she was looking for.  
"Alright. So there's four guys that will be leaving around the time we'll be getting there. Hopefully we can secretly get a card from one of them. That will make things a lot easier for all of us."

The group reached their destination around 11:35p.m. The manhole they were exiting to get back up to the surface lead to a small alley way that was on a street very close by to the party that Vern was attending.  
"I'll go get Vern, you guys stay close" April said. "Oh, and behave when you see him, please. He's not a bad guy, he's just a dork." And with that, April walked out of the alley and headed across the street to go get the last piece to their plan.  
Raph suddenly started climbing up to a higher position on the building in the alley.  
"Where are you going?" Casey asked.  
"It's hard to track her from here. It'll be easier to see her from higher up."  
Casey shrugged. "Alright, good call." He also started climbing up the ladders that lead to the roof of the building.  
Sam and Mikey decided to join the party and headed to the roof as well. The four continued to talk as they all watched April from afar, making sure that she was alright as she entered the crowded streets of the city.  
Mikey and Sam were in the back talking and goofing around while Casey and Raph stood along the edge of the building, watching April. Raph continued to look outward towards the open area as he talked.  
"Hey Sam, you updated Jay on what you're doing, right?"  
Sam paused and tried to act natural as she spoke.  
"What exactly do you mean by update?" she asked nervously.  
Mikey's eyes were as wide as Raph's. Raph turned around and now both brothers were staring at her in shocked frustration.  
"Sam!" Mikey shouted. "You know we won't do anything unless we know Jay is okay with it!"  
"I thought we made it clear that we want to keep his trust!" Raph bellowed.  
It was weird to see both of these two upset and gang up on someone over the same thing since usually they were ganging up on each other.  
Casey's curiosity cut Sam off before she could say anymore.  
"Wait, hold up. So she can't hang out with you guys unless her brother approves?"  
Raph looked over at the man while also putting an arm around Sam and putting her in a loose (or at least loose enough) one armed headlock.  
"She doesn't have to update him on when she hangs out with us, but she has to let him know when she's joining us on missions like this. And of course, typical Sam is trying to be sneaky by not telling him a damn thing."  
Raph ruffled the girl's hair (apparently one of her biggest weaknesses) and released her as she stood up tall to stare him straight in the eye.  
"Not cool man, not cool" she said as she pointed in his direction.  
"Text him now Sam" Raph said aloud as he turned back around to keep an eye on April.  
"Yeah, yeah" she mumbled as she turned around and then saw a moping Michelangelo.  
"*groan* ALRIGHT! I'm messaging him now" she replied to Mikey's amusement as he now threw his hands up to show he was happy with her decision.  
Only Casey saw that Raph was also smiling after he heard his friend say that she was going to contact her brother.  
"So, you can smile, even when you're not bullying other people" Casey mocked.  
Raph just rolled his eyes.  
"Congratulations, you want a prize for making your discovery?" Raph said in a sarcastic tone.  
"You're a tough book to read" Casey said, putting his hands behind his head.  
"What?" Raph asked in a rough tone.  
"You always act super tough, and I mean I get why, but I don't get why you ALWAYS have to be tough."  
"Because he's trying to impersonate Batman" Sam said in a low tone, to which she and Mikey then started imitating a bunch of their favorite fictional characters from different series, and then ranting about them, and then they totally were lost from the original conversation.  
Casey chuckled. "And I'm especially surprised you're not as tough after dealing with those two."  
Raph sighed. "I've always been the largest and the toughest out of my brothers. I felt like I was the largest for a reason you know. It made working out and getting exercise a lot easier for me. That and generally I've just always been this way. It's just easier to shut others out, you know, being the way we are."  
"So, you mean it's easier to push people away because you're mutants?" Casey asked with genuine curiosity since he was now actually really interested in this unexpected open side of Raph.  
Raph huffed. "People fear us, at least I'm pretty sure they would. So it's easier to keep people at bay rather than be let everyone in, create peace, all that shit."  
"But…you let April in, and then you let Sam and even Jay into your lives."  
Raph nodded. "At first I was totally against bringing April to our lair, but I got over it since Sensei wanted to meet her. That's when we learned that she was the reason we look like this now-"  
"And that's because?"  
"When we were normal turtles, she saved us from a fire at TCRI caused by Eric Sachs. Once we learned this, we all wanted to give her the chance to get to know us, and she's been family ever since. Sam…she's her own unique case."  
Casey noticed Raph roll his eyes as he took a deep breath.  
"So I guess the way she entered your lives was different from the way April did?"  
"Completely different. April found us, literally out of luck, and we handled that immediately. Sam found us because she used spy gear and then we had to chase after her for about a week. Then she fought us some in order to get away from us. Mikey's the main reason she's still around" he said as he turned around to see the two practicing back flips behind them.  
"Mikey was the only one that gave her a chance and accepted her apology for sneaking into and stealing from our home."  
"She stole from you guys?! Sam did? That girl over their who's basically glued to your brother's side?"  
"She's the one" Raph said with raised brows. "She stole a flash drive from Donnie that had literally every piece of information he has about us on it. Of course we got it back and everything was fine, but none of us wanted anything to do with her, except for Mikey who snuck out and met her the next day. The two became friends, we got into a scare when we couldn't reach him during a serious mission one night, Leo decided that the safest way for all of us to keep an eye on the two of them together was if we allowed her into the lair, and the rest is history. She's basically the quintuplet we never had."  
"So that's why you all look after her the same way you do to April? Because you see both of them as sisters?"  
Raph paused before he finally spoke again. He didn't realize it, but Casey saw that Raph had closed his eyes during this pause.  
"We all made regretful decisions when we discovered that Sam was in the Foot clan. We didn't know why she had joined or how long she had been a member, but our instincts lead us to make our decisions the night we found out even though we didn't know or understand anything about her situation. We all made regretful choices that night, especially me. None of us can ever truly forget about it, and we all hate who we were when it all happened. Sometimes the four of us even have nightmares about what happened and sometimes they're about what could have happened as well. So we all do our best to make sure it never happens again. We got to know her pretty well before the Foot fell, but we all became ten times closer afterwards."  
"I understand all that, but I still don't get the personality switch. You know, going from 'I'm going to kick your ass' to 'tell your brother where you are cause he'll get worried'."  
Raph snickered at the man's comparison.  
"To the average person, I'm always the 'I'll kick your ass guy', but only people that truly care will stick around long enough to see that that's not the only side of me. I said I've always grown up as the tough one, but I never said that's the only thing I grew up as. April grew attached to us pretty quickly, and just as fast she started treating us like an older sister would treat her kid brothers. I love her but man she nags about us taking care of ourselves so freaking much. But, it's also nice to have someone who cares so much, you know? Sam was basically the same way. Mikey became her best friend pretty much over night, but the rest of us were tough one her, but she never gave up. She stuck around and took the time to get to know each of us, and we all have things in common with her. They both know how to talk to us in ways when our other brothers can't, and with Sam specifically, there are times where we go to her because we literally can't go to anyone else, that or there have been times where everyone else shoots you down and she makes sure you're not alone when it's known you don't want to be. She can sense things like that."  
Casey smiled up at the large turtle.  
"So does that mean your brother's know these sides to you as well?"  
"Oh yeah. They know not to joke about it though. Heh, they learned that early on when we were kids. But all four of us pretty much know EVERYTHING about the others, but like most guys, we just don't bring light to it. But there are times where each of us may surprise the others. Sam's lead Mikey to reveal some new sides to him we had never seen before."  
Casey nodded his head. All of this information was so mind-blowing to him. Just like Raph had said, when you first saw him, you thought that he hated the world and everyone in it, yet here he was watching over April to make sure that she reached Vern safely, and then he was also harping on Sam to make sure that her brother knew of her whereabouts. He just never imagined that someone so rough looking could actually be so caring and genuine. For a second, he also thought it was interesting how Mikey seemed like an overly laid back person who never had any idea what was going on, yet he also became worried and protective when telling Sam to text Jay about what she was doing.  
 _"Well, they do say that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Man did I judge these books the wrong way"_ he thought to himself.

"There's April with Vern" Raph stated, pulling Casey away from his thoughts.  
He then saw the devilish grin on Raph's face as April and Vern entered the alley way.  
"Alright. We'll get this show on the road right after I talk to our friend the falcon."  
Earlier his menacing voice was used more so in a playful way. But not this time, this time he sounded pissed.  
Raph began making his way down towards the ground, and as Casey followed, he wondered how much more interesting this night was going to get.  
Raph jumped down behind April and a startled Vern.  
A cocky and slightly annoyed smile formed on his face. "Well, well, well. If it ain't the prince of the city."  
Vern rolled his eyes.  
"Oh give me a break Raph. You're the one who told me to take credit for Shredder in the first place. And now in light of the fact that he is who knows where, I'm starting to have profound regrets about this arrangement."  
"Well we can always fix that" Sam said as she now leapt down and stood next to Raph.  
"Hey Vern."  
"Hey Sam and um what do you mean by that exactly?"  
Sam smirked at him. "You were chosen because you're one of the few people who knows everything about the Foot, the mutants, EVERYTHING, even though you had nothing to do with the fall of the clan last year, so people put their trust in you that you would cause a distraction so that all the people trying to hide from the Foot could do so. But if you're not doing a good job at convincing the city it was you, we can always find someone else" she said with a confident smile.  
"Pshh, I can handle this I'm fine, totally fine" Vern said, not realizing just how timid he sounded.  
"Where's Mikey?" Raph asked.  
"On his way, once he finishes his push-ups because he lost to me in arm wrestling."  
Now it was Casey's turn to talk.  
"Soooooo are we just gonna stand around and talk, or?" he asked, his arms crossed over his chest.  
Mikey now leapt down and was walking behind Vern.  
"Who's this guy?" Vern asked, a slightly annoyed tone coming from him.  
Mikey walked up to Casey and then began to back away with his hands up.  
"Total loser bro. I mean, nice enough fella, if you like guys who can't even bench press. Boom!" he said, throwing his arm down in front of him.  
"Heh, yeah. Or even fill out a t-shirt" Vern added, which also received a chuckle and a fist bump from Mikey.  
Usually Sam didn't care when she heard other guys compete like this, and she didn't care if the guys or anyone else showed their interest in April, but she knew that's why these two dorks were making the comments that they were. It never really affected her before, but right now she wasn't in the mood to hear it. So while they tried to impress a beautiful woman, she decided to get her phone and earphones out and started listening to who she deemed as some of the most gorgeous men in the universe, BTS. Everyone was so caught up in the main conversation that no one really noticed her take a few steps back and just chill against the wall nearby.  
April continued the main conversation.  
"Vern, he's a part of the plan."  
"What plan is that?" Vern asked, amused at all that was going on.  
"The plan to…break into police headquarters" April said nervously, biting her lip.  
"….What?" Vern displayed a 'wtf' face spot on.  
"We need to find Shredder."  
"We? No, no. We're not doing this." Vern then started to just babble on. "Listen, I'd love to help you guys out but I can't. I got, you know-"  
Mikey, who sensed that Vern was just messing around at this point, decided to do the same to him as he leaned in and started touching the key on the chain around the man's neck.  
"Whoaaaaa, sweet key bro. Does it go to something?"  
Vern swatted his hand away.  
"No it's just the key to the city" he said in a low and flustered voice.  
"Vern," Casey cut in, "As the resident new guy in this band of freaky misfits, I say you should do yourself a favor, and just roll with it.  
Taken aback, Vern attempted to defend himself.  
"Hey new guy! All I do is roll with it. I've been rolling with it since you were wearing baby t-shirts because you were a baby-"  
Raph stepped up towards Vern so that he was practically in front of his face, or more so Vern was in front of Raph's chest since the turtle towered over the human man.  
"Police Headquarters. 30 minutes. Put this flash drive in one of their computers. Do whatever you need so that the cops at the front desk don't pay attention to April and Casey as they walk into the building. Once they're in you can leave. You better be there."  
Raph forcefully handed the drive to Vern and then walked away before the man could say another word.  
Casey was the next to leave.  
"See you there" he said triumphantly.  
Mikey was the next to leave. He got close to Vern, and with a tantalizing voice and expression repeated the phrase "see you there."  
"He just said that" Vern mumbled.  
He turned around to see April standing there with her arms up.  
"Don't worry guys! I'll get Sam and make sure she's okay!"  
The three walking away stopped, looked around them to see that Sam wasn't there, and then turned back towards April with wide eyes. Raph and Mikey grumbled, Raph more so because Sam was wasting time, and Mikey more so because his friend has just snuck away (not really) and didn't say anything.  
Raph was about to storm over and grab her, but April put her hand up to signal that she would get Sam, knowing that if Raph was overly harsh then they would never even get to headquarters.  
April carefully maneuvered around a dancing Sam as she danced to DOPE and pulled an earphone from the girl's ear.  
Sam faced her and then saw that no one else was there.  
"Oh, did we tell Vern that-"  
"Everything's been taken care of" April kindly said with a smile.  
Sam pursed her lips and nodded. "Alright." She then quickly ran over to Vern and stated in a low voice, "see you there" before running off and catching up with the guys as Mikey and Raph gently shoved her for doing what she did.  
"They already…said that, ugh" Vern mumbled in annoyance.  
"Good" April said as she walked by the man, "then that means you know where to be."

Everyone started heading towards their spot for the plan, and soon after, the plan was set in motion. It was five minutes after midnight when Vern set the plan in motion as he entered the police station and distracted the cops while the turtles and Sam were in the vents using the tablet to set up the device that would connect to the flash drive Vern just inserted into the computer. April and Casey entered the building mere seconds later, but the group in the vents was able to get everything to connect just in time so that the two down below were given access into the building. April and Casey then made their way throughout the building to where the evidence room was while the three up top moved around the vents to get to the locker room. Raph and Mikey had to awkwardly but successfully maneuver themselves to snatch an access card from an officer who was taking off his gear from work that day, and then not even a minute later Mikey was dropping the card down through a vent opening to April who was standing below it.  
Sam was now using the tablet to gain access to the cameras in the evidence room to see if anyone was there and then to adjust them so that no one would ever know that Casey and April had ever been in the room. She sent a message to the two saying that it was clear and that the cameras had been altered, so April swiped the card to enter the room…but that's when two Foot soldiers came rushing out, though they stopped for a second, stunned that someone had found them.  
Mikey gasped out loud.  
"What's wrong?!" Raph called out.  
"Foot soldiers!" Mikey cried out.  
"What?! But they're-" Sam cut herself off as her eyes went wide. "There was no proof…"  
"What?!" Raph bellowed.  
"I assumed they were gearing up to follow Shredder and the mutants to the museum, but they were really heading here instead" she stated in a worried tone, her hands now behind her neck while the three remained in the vents.  
"They just got past April and Casey, we need to move!" Mikey called out.  
"Sam stop pouting and get down there! Mikey and I will get to the exit and cut them off there" Raph bellowed, his voice even louder in the vents.  
"Are you crazy?! We can't be seen!" Mikey shouted in reply.  
"That purple ooze is our last chance at being normal, and it's about to walk right out the front door" he sternly said.  
"Be careful" Sam stated, though the guys probably didn't hear with how loud they were as they moved quickly through the noisy vents.  
Sam pushed down the vent opening and quickly hoisted herself down to the ground. She pulled her hood up and luckily she already had her black surgical mask on, so she was all ready to go.

She saw 3 soldiers running away and she sped throughout the debris left behind from the soldiers to try and catch up to them.  
She caught up to the first soldier and whipped out her tonfa as she ran up and leapt from a desk and leapt over the soldier. She lightly hit his head since he had dodged as he heard her coming up from behind him, but she was able to quickly pivot on her left leg and kick him with her right. Now these fights with the Foot weren't going to be as easy since Shredder had much more skilled ninjas working for him now. Sam had to quickly get back into position after she landed her kick because the soldier was already up and swinging at her. The soldier then pulled out his own set of tonfa and the two seemed to fight for what seemed like forever, neither being able to find a weakness in the other and always dodging or blocking the blow coming from the other. Sam thought she needed to change things up and ended up launching a rolling chair at him, and since this wasn't something light or thin enough for the man to cut through, he had to dodge, and this left a split second opportunity for Sam to run up and slide to trip the man and then knee him in the face on his way down.  
 _"Man that took way longer than I expected it to"_ Sam thought to herself. _"I need to hurry up and catch up with the others."  
_ She wasn't sure which direction she was supposed to go in since there were multiple different hallways within the building, but she assumed she was supposed to run in the direction of a huge crash that she had just heard. She had only taken a few steps before she decided to retreat and hide because she saw a bunch of police officers, including Jade and Chief Vincent, run by as well. Sam watched them as she carefully hid behind a toppled over desk. At times like this she was grateful that she was so much smaller than the turtles. The larger group then started running towards another large crash, but this time it sounded like glass shattering.  
"Oh shit…" Sam whispered to herself as she put her tonfa back into her bag and then started sprinting towards the crash.  
She felt a lump in her throat when she then heard Leo's voice, and then right after that hearing multiple officers yelling at someone to put their hands up and freeze. She heard Raph's voice to, and she knew that all four of them had to be in there. Why Leo and Donnie were here, she had no idea, but that wasn't the point. Her friends were in danger and she needed to do something about it.  
"FREEZE"  
"DON'T MOVE"  
"Wait we're the good guys!"  
"GET ON THE GROUND NOW!"  
Just as Sam slid in, her hood still up and her mask still on (thank god) the two turtles in the front had just begun to kneel down on the ground.  
She stood in front of the two. She was so focused on the terrified expressions of the officers in front of her that couldn't sense the wide eyed looks of the four turtles behind her.  
Sam would be a liar if she said she wasn't terrified right now as well. She had no plan, no idea what she was doing, but something in her boggled mind right now told her that standing between the turtles and the officers was the safest move, for her friends that is.  
"GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!" an officer yelled at her.  
Sam was about to announce her ex Foot code, hoping the situation when encountering the officers on the highway would repeat itself here.  
"Get down on the ground!" Jade shouted. Sam looked her right in the eye and she knew Jade recognized her, and the fact that she shouted this meant that no one else here knew about the code, so they all were really screwed right now.  
"You're making a mistake-"  
"They're monsters, she's working with monsters!" one of the male officers shouted with furry.  
"We're not monsters…" Mikey mumbled from behind.

Sam couldn't explain what happened to her next. She never saw Mikey's face, but his voice told her everything she needed to know. This officer hurt her best friend. This officer was scaring her best friend. This is something Mikey wouldn't forget anytime soon, even if he did act like he was alright. This would leave an emotional scar on his heart and would emotionally affect how much he wanted to join the human world while also lowering his own personal morale. And the fact that Mikey was this hurt, this would then kill the rest of the brothers since they would feel like they couldn't protect him. That and they all themselves would have to deal with their own personal struggles once they got back to the lair. Sam heard Raph sigh and knew that he was already beating himself up for allowing this to happen, especially on his watch when he finally had a chance to take charge. She could still lightly hear the sound of Donnie breathing which showed how nervous and scared he truly was as he lived out one of his greatest fears for both him and his entire family. Leo couldn't be heard at all at the moment, but Sam knew that he was fuming on the inside, both for the fact that his brothers and she didn't listen to his orders, but also because he wondered if he had handled things any differently then maybe none of this would be happening.

They couldn't protect Mikey, and none of them could protect themselves at this very moment, so she would. She would keep them safe. She didn't know what was happening to her or why, but she felt an energy build up and she knew that she just had to protect them.  
No one could see her smirk as she said in a low voice "monsters huh? I'll show you a monster."  
Her eyes went blue and black. Her face and voice revealed a sinister expression and tone that no one in the room had ever seen or hear before, and without her even moving, a huge gust of wind came from her body. All the officers in front of her were slammed against the wall behind them.  
"NO!" April and Casey were both shouting as they now ran into the room.  
"Guys you need to go now!" April yelled as she stood in front of Sam, who had now ceased the wind after hearing April and Casey's voice.  
Leo and Donnie sensed that the officers next to each of them were stunned and frozen after what they had just seen, and they quickly knocked their weapons out of their hands before dashing through the now open window, since they had broken the glass minutes before.  
Raph swooped up Sam and practically threw the girl over his shoulder and he and Mikey chased after their other two brothers.

Eventually they reached a spot in the sewer where they placed Sam down to check her out, and her eyes had still been blue. Each of the turtles started saying all types of gibberish to get her to calm down, but when Mikey mumbled something to her, she finally returned to her normal state. Besides for this, nothing else was said until the group got back to the lair. Even after everything they had just seen at headquarters, they knew the real fight had yet to start.

 **So I'll admit that for the police headquarters scene, I didn't put anywhere near as much detail about this part of the story as I usually do only because I start college classes again on Monday, and it's like 2:30a.m. Sunday morning. I so badly wanted to get through the Out of the Shadows arc over winter break, but sadly I was not able to do that. :/  
Don't worry, THIS STORY IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE, but it will be while before I start updating again. If I'm lucky I can update throughout the semester, but it will barely be anything at all. But since this was a scene from the film, I more so quickly summarized it rather than explain in detail and add subplot to it since I wanted to get to more important stuff that happens later on in the chapter. Hopefully that's okay with you guys .**

 **Again I WILL BE BACK I PROMISE. If it means anything to those who might think "oh people say that and then they never return", I said the same thing when the Fall semester started, and yet I came back and got some work uploaded within the month that I was off. I swear on my life when I say that I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much in store for this series, but sadly I must go on a writing break so that I can complete my course work.**

 **For those that leave views/kudos or bookmark the story or leave comments, thank you all so very much. The fact that I can share all these thoughts that swim around in my head with others is such an incredible feeling, and I'd like to give a special shout out to LordoftheNerds97 for all your support. To anyone who has supported me and this story in any way, thank you all so much. It means the world to me to share this with you, so please be looking forward to more chapters in the future. Even if it takes me years to complete this entire series, the chapters will continue to be produced :)**


	35. Chapter 35

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #35

 ***Early morning Sunday June 7** **th** **, 2015. Just returning to the lair at 1a.m.***

As soon as it was confirmed that Sam was alright, everything went silent. Like, as incredibly super awkwardly dead silent as silent could get. And the worst part, everyone's body language displayed that there was A LOT that they all wanted to say, but no one wanted to start the verbal war that was brewing. So many thoughts and feelings were on everyone's mind: sadness, anger, fear, betrayal. Sam was just hoping that maybe this silence would allow things to calm down some before everyone started sharing how they felt, but sadly that wasn't the case. As soon as Splinter's voice was heard, the war begun. Hearing their father's terrified and shaken voice, the boys were officially set off.

Splinter turned around as soon as he sensed his sons enter the room.  
"It is all over the police scanner. They're hunting you! What happened up there?"  
Leo and Raph were now fuming as they stormed in side by side. Sam had been sulking in the back next to Michelangelo as the two slowly made their way into the lair behind a nervously storming Donatello.  
"Tell him Raph. Tell him how you broke rent and got us all exposed!" Leo announced as he snatched the canister from Raph and held it up to their father as he passed by. "And for the most selfish of reasons."  
Sam felt guilt as Raph was blamed for being the sole reason the events that had taken place that night went so sour.  
Raph rolled his eyes and tried to defend his case.  
"The Foot were gonna get their hands on it!" he shouted in a frustrated manner, his face revealing how much he was trying to justify all that had gone wrong.  
"You didn't know that!"  
"We had a plan where we wouldn't have gotten caught…" Sam thought to herself…at least she thought she thought it to herself.  
Leo and Raph both stopped walking and slowly turned around to face Sam who had been walking slowly behind the rest of the group. Leo looked furious while Raph looked worried, not wanting Sam to deal with the same bs arguments that he knew he would receive from Leo. Donnie stared at her in shock while Mikey looked off into the distance, trapped in his own depressed thoughts.  
"What?" Leo asked in a low but furious voice.  
Sam paused as she realized that she had verbally shared her thoughts by accident. She sighed, realizing that there was no way of escaping this one.  
"Raph didn't come up with this plan alone. I thought Shredder was planning on bringing his soldiers with him to the museum, so I thought tonight was a good time to retrieve the ooze from-"  
"So you took advantage of Raph?" Leo interrupted.  
Sam just stood there with a blank expression except for her raised brows.  
"I did what now?"  
Leo narrowed his eyes. "So you knew that Raph was upset about not getting to be human and so you used him for your own reasons to get the ooze."  
Sam bit her lip to prevent herself from saying something nasty.  
"The only thing I took advantage of was a good opportunity to take back something that should have already been in our hands."  
Donnie now nervously stormed over and into the conversation as he mildly panicked with his hands behind his back.  
"But your plan included stealing from police headquarters! When stealing from police headquarters there's no scenario where you wouldn't get caught!" he announced.  
"Everything would have been fine if the soldiers had been where I thought they'd be" Sam said sternly as she fought not to glare at Donnie.  
Raph on the other hand was already in Donnie's face as he shouted at him "well maybe none of this would have been an issue if you hadn't lied to your own flesh and blood!"  
Now it was Donnie's eyes who were glued to the ground as a wave of guilt had washed over him. Raph was right, maybe if he had told the group as a whole then maybe the discussion of the ooze would have ended differently and the group being split up would never have happened. His actions could have played a role in changing what had happened tonight, and he felt terrible knowing that his excitement of his earlier discovery had distracted him from thinking through every scenario of how he should have handled sharing the news, and this crushed him.

Donnie slowly walked away and into his lab after his older brother had shouted at him.  
Then it was Leo's turn to shout once again.  
"Just like how you lied to April? And now she's taking the fall for your mess" Leo said in a harsh tone as he faced Raph.  
Raph paused as his older brother's words sank in. He HATED to admit that Leo was right, and he would spend days defending his decision to retrieve the ooze the way they had if he needed to, but he knew this statement about April was true. He had gotten her involved in something she didn't know the full story about, and now she was suffering because of his decisions. Raph rolled his eyes and sighed as he walked away towards the direction of his room.

Sam sighed as she stood outside Donnie's lab. She wasn't sure which brother she should go talk to first since both had made it clear how hurt they were because of their decisions, but her decision was made up after she saw her best friend sit down and mutter "You should have seen the looks on their faces…"  
Leo was watching over his youngest brother, though there was still a scowl on his face. Splinter however was listening with concern, just as Sam was.  
"They weren't just scared. There was…actual hate" Mikey stated as he looked up at his father with his scared and saddened bright blue eyes.  
Sam looked up and noticed Leo shake his head and walk out of the room as he headed towards the exit tunnel near the living room.  
Splinter put his hand on Mikey's shoulder.  
"It is alright my son. People fear what they do not understand" he said in a sympathetic tone.  
Splinter then quickly walked away to chase after his oldest son before he could escape the lair.  
Sam was still standing outside the closed off lab as she stared at her best friend. She couldn't stand to see him this way, and it crushed her to know that he had heard what that officer said. He called them monsters. What the hell did he know? In Sam's eyes, someone like Shredder was a monster, yet the officer had treated Mikey and the others as if they were the same as Shredder. It disgusted her. It enraged her. But she didn't want to cause another scene (whatever the hell that first one back at headquarters even was) and so she took a deep breath and calmed herself. She knew that if she wanted to cheer up her best friend, then she would have to be calm and cheery as well.

Sam walked over and crouched down in front of Mikey who was now slumped against the raised pipe in the middle of the room.  
"Hey" she said softly.  
The only reaction Mikey responded with was moving his eyes up so that he could acknowledge her presence and muttering again that "they called us monsters…", and then he returned to looking down at the ground.  
 _"Man, this is worse than I thought. Come one Sam, think of something! Hell I'll probably start crying if I see him like this any longer. Prove he's better than what he thinks he is!"  
_ That's when an idea popped into her head.  
"Hey, so in my Psychology class we learned some cools things like reading peoples futures through their palms and things like that. Mind if I read your palm and see what it says about you?" she asked gently and with a small smile.  
Mikey sighed. "Yeah. Go for it" he said as he still looked down at the ground.  
Sam quickly took his right hand and removed the bandages wraps and orange wires he wore so that his hand was naked. She then placed her left hand under his to keep it steady and then used her fingers on her right hand to trace over his palm.  
"You see, this one is your heart line. And there's your life line. That one's your fate line, and right there is your head line…Hmm, that's weird" Sam hummed.  
"What's wrong?" Mikey said, now in a more slightly panicked state as he stared at her with wide eyes.  
Sam looked at Mikey's palm questioningly as she moved his hand all around.  
"I learned how to search for all different types of signs…but I don't see any monster lines" she said as she looked up at him with a smile.  
Mikey's frantic expression then faded into a calmed one, and for the first time in what felt like hours, he began to smile. He felt so lucky to know that this girl was his best friend and that she always knew what to say to cheer him up.  
"Thanks Sam" he said as he placed both her hands in his.  
Sam nodded. "I know, I'm freaking awesome. You don't have to tell me" Sam teased.  
This got Mikey laughing as he then pulled her forward for a hug.

"I don't know what to do Master Splinter! Donnie's nose is in his computer, Raph's brains are in his biceps, and Mikey's head's in the clouds! I can't get them all on the same page, to think with one mind!" Leo shouted to his father (not knowing he had an audience) from the other room.

Sam and Mikey sighed simultaneously.  
"Doesn't sound like he's calmed down yet" Donnie said as he reappeared from his lab and then sat down at his computer station.  
Sam turned around to face Donnie, although he couldn't see her since he was facing his screens.  
"Hey D. You okay?"  
Donnie sighed. "I'll be fine. I've had worse arguments with my brothers before. This is minor compared to those." He then paused and spun his chair around. "Look, Mikey-"  
"It's fine dude" Mikey interrupted as he shook his head. "Leo gave you an order and you followed it. You were in a tough spot between doing what he told you to do and hiding from me and Raph. It would have been a tough choice for me too."  
Donnie was finally able to form a smile as well.  
"Thanks Mikey. Means a lot."  
Sam could sense that these two were already starting to cheer up some and return to normal. Splinter was calming Leo, so that just left Raph.  
"Hey, I'm gonna go see how dauntless is doing" Sam said as she stood up and placed her hand on Mikey's shoulder.  
Mikey nodded as he continued to sit, deciding that it was best if he and Donnie stayed where they were now that they were helping each other cool off.

Sam walked down the hall and saw that Raph's door was cracked. She knocked, but got no response, so she slowly pushed the door open and looked away at first (providing privacy if it was needed) and when she heard nothing, she looked up at saw Raph just lying on his back on his bed.  
Sam walked in and shut the door behind her.  
"What's on your mind?" Sam asked as she lay down at the end of his bed since there was enough space for her to do so.  
"I fucked up big time" Raph grumbled as he squeezed a hand grip weight in his right hand.  
"No, WE fucked up big time. You weren't the only one who came up with that plan" Sam stated as she basically curled up in the fetal position as her knees came up to her chest. Somehow this had always been her most comfortable sleeping position.  
"…you didn't have to do that you know…" Raph grumbled.  
"Do what?"  
"Stick up for me back there. I was the one that was pushing Leo over his limits, you could have just let the blame fall on me. I'm the one that started the whole argument once I figured out what the purple ooze could do."  
Sam nodded while she continued to lay down.  
"You had every right to be upset, though I think Leo would have handled things better if you hadn't come charging at him the way you did…well technically yesterday night since its Sunday morning now. But I had my motives for joining you in creating a plan in secret rather than talking you out of it. I'm to blame just as much as you are."  
Raph grunted as he sat up.  
"But you don't deserve to have Leo yelling at you the way he does to us. He's been strict with you but he never talks to you like that" Raph stated in a serious and angered tone.  
Sam gave a small smile with a chuckle.  
"He's my brother too now Raph, it's going to happen. You know that when he goes off like that it's just because he cares. He tried to make decisions to protect everyone else, he just doesn't realize that sometimes those decisions do more harm than good."  
Raph closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  
"I know. Sadly that's something he and I have in common. I know I'm more sensitive like Mikey, but Leo's always been like me and been rough in showing the ways he cares. Heh, knowing him he probably hates how he ended our argument earlier-"  
"Yesterday, its tomorrow now."  
Raph rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Point is, he's probably killing himself that those were his ending words. But, it'll pass. Things will be fine. We've all had worse fights before. Right now I'm more worried about April than anything. I can't believe we got her locked up. She's not like me and my brothers. She has a life outside of these sewers and we could have potentially just stolen that life from her…" he said as his voice got lower as he remembered seeing April and Casey put their hands behind their heads and kneel onto the ground, both put in a situation where the brothers could do nothing but run away even though their human friends were in a time of need.  
Sam clutched her hands around her knees tighter.  
"Yeah, I feel horrible about that too. But I know we'll make it right somehow. The good thing is that she's not alone. At least she has Casey with her, and I'm sure he'll do everything he can to help her out."  
Raph formed a small smile on his face.  
"I gotta admit, the guys not as bad as I thought. He had the guts to work with us and risk his job, and then he risked that and his life when he came in to help defend us. He's alright."  
As Raph thought about April and Casey defending his family from the cops, he then thought of Mikey's sorrow filled words when the cop called them all monsters, and this then lead him to thinking about when he had yelled at Donnie once they returned home. Raph felt worse about yelling at Donnie. Donatello was interesting when it came to loud aggressive verbal arguments. He had no trouble breaking up others arguing, and depending on the situation he would even loudly share his own thoughts on the topic, but as soon as someone came blaring at him, he would snap. He would either sulk and hide away like a young child, or he would become enraged and would switch over from good cop to bad cop and would go all out to the point he was like a whole new person. Strong verbal arguments always sent him far left or far right, never onto a middle ground, and Raph knew that this time Donnie had felt the more depressed side of the spectrum.  
"How are Donnie and Mikey doing?" Raph asked timidly.  
Sam then began to smile again. She found it interesting how Raph would show his emotions in such an aggressive manner, but then would switch over to this more soft and concerned character who was afraid he had been too tough on his brothers.  
"Don't worry. I talked to Mikey and he's feeling better, and once Donnie was able to go off on his own for a bit, he calmed himself down as well. Don and Mikey were talking about how they were put in some tough spots of what was and wasn't considered betrayal."  
Raph nodded.  
"I know it's not Donnie's fault, Leo put him in a tough spot. I shouldn't have yelled at him like that."  
Sam gently kicked Raph's leg from where she was lying down.  
"Stop being so harsh on yourself. I've seen you act way more over the top towards him, and the fact that he calmed himself so quickly means that it didn't bother him that much. He's as tough as the rest of you, both the youngest are. They also don't dread about things as much as you and Leo, but I also think that's because their minds already wander back to other important things before they can continue to think dreadful thoughts. Maybe it's an older brother vs younger brother thing. But point being, they're both okay."  
Raph smiled.  
"Thanks Sam, for helping Mikey…and for me I guess" Raph grumbled towards the end, pretending to put on his 'I don't care' act to make himself look tougher.  
Sam pursed her lips as she looked up at him.  
"Great apology. Always been one of your best qualities" she stated sarcastically.  
Raph just playfully waved her away as he now got a good look as how she was lying down.  
"How the heck is that comfortable for you?" he said, nudging her with his foot.  
"There's something about this position that is incredibly soothing" Sam said as she held herself tight like she was cuddling herself.  
Raph then shifted out of the bed and began to walk over towards the door.  
"Guess I should still apologize for yelling at Don and for putting Mikey in the situation that I did."  
 _"Guys! I got something!"_ Donnie's voice echoed as Raph had just opened up his bedroom door.  
"Or I guess I can tell them later."  
"Good call" Sam said as she kicked her legs up and literally rolled backwards out of the bed and then rushed behind Raph as the two made their way back into the central part of the lair.

Leo had just rushed over and was now standing to the right of Donnie, and Mikey had stood up and was now standing to Donnie's left. Raph walked over so that he was standing next to Leo's left, and then Sam stood between Raph and Mikey.  
"Talk to me Donnie" Leo started.  
"The computer has pinpointed the isotopic signature from the purple ooze. I can track Bebop and Rocksteady's exact coordinates."  
He continued to type away on his keyboard and turn dials as he talked.  
"Got it! They're at 36,000 feet traveling at 490 knots!" Donnie announced.  
"Whoaaaa, they've achieved the power of flight!" Mikey stated as he then crossed his arms and nodded his head. "Good for them you know."  
Raph and Sam looked at each other with pursed lips as they nodded their heads, impressed that Mikey was actually able to put that information together and understand that this meant that Bebop and Rocksteady were in the air. Leo and Donnie were both trying to contain laughs and maintain their small grins as they also shared a look with each other.  
"They're on a plane Mikey."  
"…Oh" Mikey said in defeat, though receiving a pat on the back from Sam, which then brought his smile back.  
"It looks like our mutant buddies are heading to Brazil."  
"How do we get there?" Leo asked.  
"We sneak onto the next cargo plane from JFK" Donnie replied.

Leo sensed eyes on him as he turned and confirmed this sense as he saw Sam and Mikey staring at him, as if they were waiting for an answer to something. That's when he realized they were asking for permission to let Sam join them.  
"No way" he stated bluntly.  
"But!-"  
"We need her" Donnie stated, also bluntly.  
All heads turned towards Donnie in shock of him going against Leo's orders, especially after all they had witnessed after one brother had disobeyed their orders.  
Leo shook his head rapidly.  
"Donnie no, it's too-"  
"If things go sour in the air then we'll need her powers Leo. Sam can help keep us safe in the air if we need it."  
Leo paused as he thought over Donnie's words. He thought about the small chance that the plane crashed and something like their parachutes malfunctioning happened, Sam could literally be the factor that determines their life or death. As slight as these chances may have been, they were chances that might need Sam to use her powers to help glide them downwards from that high up.  
Leo sighed.  
"Alright Sam. Go with Donnie to gear up and-"  
"YESSSSS! Awwww this is gonna be awesome!" Sam said as she was mid-way in giving an excited Mikey a high-five.  
"ONLY if you contact Jay first" Leo and Raph said simultaneously.  
"Ughhh alright, alright" Sam groaned as she walked towards the dojo to gain some privacy for her call.  
Donnie then searched in his lab for all the materials the group would need in case of any emergencies that might occur while they were on the plane.  
Meanwhile, Mikey was watching as Leo and Raph were looking downwards in worry.  
"Aww relax bro's! Sam will be fine!" Mikey reassured, though he didn't get the reaction back that he was expecting.  
"She's your best friend, I thought you'd care more about making sure she makes cautious and careful choices" Leo said sternly.  
Mikey pursed his lips.  
"I'm always cautious dude. But I can't watch over her if she's not by my side. She's safer with us than running off by herself."  
"Usually I'd agree, but this is different" Raph stated gruffly.  
"That's why we have all this" Donnie said as he now walked out of the lab and laid a bunch of different materials down on the table in front of where all his computers were. "Before we leave we need to make sure all of us know how to use these materials. These will be used for safety precautions."  
Donnie had all types of parachutes and cables and all sorts of materials laid on the table.  
"Then let's start the demonstrations now!" Sam announced as she jogged back into the room.  
"What did Jay say?" Donnie asked.  
"You're all his clones" Sam scowled.  
"Better believe it. Now what did he say?" Donnie pushed.  
"He said to be careful and to contact him if anything happens okay?" Sam said rather quickly. "Now let's get things moving! We have bad guys to catch and…I don't really know anything else except that. I also just realized I have no idea why they're in Brazil…why are we going to Brazil?" Sam asked in a childish tone.  
"Oh, right. Sorry, I just realized that only Leo and I know about this. At the museum we discovered this huge boulder like object that had been tampered with. The material of the rock contained neutronium which can be used to rupture the space time continuum and, if Shredder wanted to, he could open a portal to another dimension."  
Sam's eyes went wide.  
"I'm assuming there's something in Brazil that aides in this portal being opened?"  
"We don't know for sure, but regardless, they went to Brazil to retrieve something, and we need to intercept their pick-up."  
"Then let's get going already" Raph urged.

Donnie then showed the rest of the group how to attach different pieces of equipment to themselves and how to work other materials. After everyone was done testing and using the materials, they all packed up and attached any and all important pieces of equipment to themselves and loaded into the turtle truck as Donnie quickly drove them down to the airport.  
It was only 2:30a.m. when they arrived, but they needed to travel while it was still dark out, or else they would easily be spotted if they tried to load into a plane once it was bright out. They parked the truck in a brush filled area about 20 minutes away from the airport and then carefully moved on foot to a cargo plane that had been scheduled to leave around 5a.m later that morning. Once everyone made it on board and was settled, it was time to play the waiting game. At this point they all decided to find a comfy spot to rest and relax, knowing that once the plane was off the ground and moving, they would need to be alert and ready for when their next battle would begin.

 **SURPRISE! Somehow I was able to type up and upload a chapter. Right now I'm sort of at a decent homework spot where if I get enough homework done within each day then I can spend short time periods every dew nights working on my story, if I'm lucky enough to get those moments.**

 **Hopefully this short chapter was still a nice continuation to what happened last chapter, and I hope you all are still enjoying the story overall!**

 **Oh, and quick shout out to "** **another-tmnt-writer** **" on Tumblr. They're the one that came up with that palm reading bit when Mikey is upset about being called a monster, and I loved when I read that small one-shot online and asked if I could include it in this story. Reading it online I just felt like it matched Mikey and Sam's friendship spot on. So if you ever see this, thank you very much "** **another-tmnt-writer** **"! :D**


	36. Chapter 36

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #36

 ***Sunday June 7** **th** **, 2015. Hiding on the plane before the flight leaves at 5a.m.***

The group still had a few hours before their flight would be ready to leave for Brazil, so they each decided to sit back and relax for the time being, knowing that things would be active and intense once they all finally caught up with Bebop and Rocksteady.  
Leo chose this time to meditate, though he could sense that this would eventually lead to sleep anyway since he hadn't slept in a while (in general all their sleep schedules were out of whack since they "worked" all throughout the night while also getting things done during the day). Raph, like usual, was working out to a certain extent as he scrunched his hand grip weights and rotated using it from one hand and then back to the other. Overall the group had to be silent so that no one checked the already packed plane, and these two handled this very well…the other three, not so much.  
Donnie would have been fine on his own as he tinkered away with some of his devices in his pack, but Sam and Mikey who were hiding behind some boxes towards the other side of the space were purposefully hacking into Don's devices as he worked. Sam made sure they weren't doing anything extreme like erasing any of his work, but more so they were playfully interfering by sending funny pop-ups of memes, or they would somehow alter the screen some. The one time Sam hacked in and changed Donnie's words every time he went to type something. This eventually became a battle as Donatello tried hacking back when Sam and Mikey went to listen to music, watch videos, play games, things like that. None of this was a big deal except for the fact that whatever one side did, it made the other side grab their sides from laughing so hard. Like they were seriously struggling in keeping their voices low and prevent themselves from laughing out loud.

Raph had been the first one to fall asleep. He didn't even realize that he was tired, he just kept crunching the weight in his hand until he eventually slumped back against the wall some, falling asleep with the weight still in his hand.  
Mikey was the next to fall asleep. He and Sam had been watching "My Love Story!" on Sam's tablet (because Sam knew how to get Mikey hooked on good shojo anime series) and he had slumped over without realizing he had been swaying side to side some. Sam helped get him propped into a comfy position as he leaned onto the wall and the box next to him. Sam then decided to get comfy and leaned on his side as she continued to watch the show.  
Eventually Donnie needed to take a break from using his devices (more so his eyes needed a break) and so he walked over to where Mikey and Sam were sleeping. He leaned against a different set of boxes and sat in a position where he was sitting on the floor, but could also rest his legs on top of Sam's, literally just to mess with her. Once that got old, Donnie scooted over so that he was sitting next to Sam, and Sam also changed her position so that she was sitting next to Donnie as the two watched episodes of Bates Motel on her tablet. This went on for a little while until eventually the two fell asleep side by side and leaning on one another.  
Leo was the last to fall asleep. He looked around the room, and once he determined his sleeping siblings were safe, he let sleep overcome him as well.

They all slept through until 5a.m. when the plan began to take off. Everyone woke up a bit and stirred when they felt the plane move, but once they realized what time it was and that it was just the plan taking off, each of them laid back down. Donnie had stated that on average it would take about 8 hours to travel from the United States to Brazil, which meant that their estimated time of arrival wouldn't be until closer to one in the afternoon, so everyone was taking advantage of this time to sleep and relax.  
Leo was the first to wake back up around 8a.m. He was a bit groggy when waking back up, but his stomach woke him up quickly soon after. The noises coming from his stomach made him question when he had last eaten, and he honestly couldn't come up with an answer. He then saw a peanut butter bar and a pack of crackers appear in front of him. He looked up to see that Sam had woken up and was now slowly shimmy-ing away from Donnie.

Leo chuckled. "You would have food with you."  
"I'd be insulted if you thought I didn't" Sam said as she stood up and stretched.  
"Riiiiiight, you're the perfectionist who has to have everything prepared for any situation."  
Sam nodded with a smile as she then tried to carefully open the back of Donnie's pack without making him move too much  
"What are you doing?" Leo asked as he began eating the snacks he was given.  
"Donnie and I were using our devices earlier, which means that they need to be charged back up. Knowing him, he'll be thrilled to see that his devices have a full charge when he wakes back up" Sam said as she removed a few wireless chargers from her friends back pack.  
"Can you check real quick and see if anything has changed in regards to Bebop and Rocksteady's location?"  
Sam nodded as she pulled out Donnie's tablet and checked the location of the signature from the ooze.  
"They haven't really moved much yet, which means we're making good timing in catching up to them."  
Leo nodded. He would have continued to eat his snacks in peace, if it weren't for the fact that he kept sensing Sam's eyes on him every few seconds.  
"Can I help you with something?" he asked with playful sarcasm.  
Sam grinned. "Just wondering what goes through your head."  
Leo paused. "What is that supposed to mean?"  
Sam chuckled. "Don't take it personally. I'm just wondering how the older brother mind works and why it makes its hosts do what they do."  
Leo sighed as he looked off to the side, not really being in the mood for a lecture on his rather harsh behaviors as of late.  
"You're not the only one you know" Sam stated.  
Leo looked back over at the girl and noticed the genuine look on her face.  
"I'm not the only what?"  
"Older brother. I know you act like an ass at times because you're the oldest and that's just how you show you care, but you're not the only one who is an older brother. Raph has two younger brothers and Donnie has one and they both worry and freak out as much as you do. And I'm older than all of you, so in a sense I understand as well."  
Leo chuckled. "You may be older, but you're always going to be the little sister" he said with a mocking smile.  
Sam rolled her eyes.  
"MY POINT, is that you have others who understand how you feel, so you don't always have to act as the one to save and protect everyone else. You have people who will work with you because they understand your view point."  
Leo sighed. "It's not the same. Yes Raph and Donnie have someone younger than them, but I have everyone to look after. It's just…different. I want to keep all of them as safe as possible, but because they're all younger brothers they just think about what's in their head at the moment, they don't think about things in the long run. They don't think about future consequences and it's my job to protect them from ever experiencing those consequences, but man they make it difficult to do that" Leo groaned as he ran his hand down his face.  
Sam laughed softly as she looked back over at Leo and away from the devices she had been charging.  
"They're your younger brothers, that means they were created to be little shits. It's part of the younger sibling code."  
Leo had to fight back a laugh after hearing that one.  
"Please share what else is in this 'book of code'."  
"That we are supposed to whine when we don't get our way, that we do the stupidest shit to piss you off, that we take your stuff without telling you about it, shall I continue?" Sam asked with a smirk.  
Leo shook his head. "I think I've heard enough. So if younger siblings get a book of code, what about the older, no the oldest sibling? What do we get?"  
"You get stuck with a contract."  
"And the guidelines are?" Leo asked.  
Sam's expression softened some as she sent Leo a gentle smile.  
"That you'll love the hell out of your younger siblings and that you'll protect them in every way possible while also respecting who they are and including their thoughts and feelings when deciding on how you're going to protect them."  
Leo's gaze shot down to the floor. He knew where she was going with this, though her description did describe what a good brother would be like.  
Sam picked up on Leo's sudden change in reaction.  
"You regret what you said to Raph yesterday, don't you?" Sam asked softly.  
Leo continued to look at the floor while he spoke.  
"He just wouldn't calm down, you know? I mean I get it because I react the same way he does when I get emotional about anything, ironically we have that in common, but I was trying to explain my reasoning to him. But he didn't want to listen, and I wanted him to understand that I was trying to protect him and then I just…blurted that out…"  
"I could tell by your face that you regretted it immediately" Sam said, continuing to talk in a soft voice.  
"*sigh* he just doesn't get it, none of them do. I wanted to prevent them from experiencing what we all did at police headquarters last night. Just, I knew something like that would happen as soon as Donnie told me about what the purple ooze could do, I knew it would lead to a dangerous and painfully realistic situation like that."  
Sam nodded her head.  
"Okay two things. One, I understand where you're coming from, because sometimes I played your role when watching over Chuck. I mean it when I say I know where your mindset is, but as the younger sibling I can also say that hiding things will never save your siblings from anything. Secrets lead to arguments that will eventually lead to more chaos, aka literally what happened yesterday. Two…well this is actually a question, but what do you mean you were trying to prevent them from painfully realistic situations?"  
Now that everything had been set up and was charging, Sam now walked over and sat down next to Leo.  
Leo displayed a saddened and worrisome expression as he spoke.  
"I knew that people would react to seeing us the way those officers did. People can't handle seeing us. I know it's shocking to see us for the first time, but people don't even think before they speak. They just see something different and freak out" Leo said, his voice still low but now becoming more pained and intense as he spoke.  
"Leo…"  
"I told Master Splinter the same thing, about how I tried to warn them. I swear they think I find enjoyment in being the ass that I am, but in reality I hate being seen as the bad guy. I don't mean to act like a total jerk, but it's for their own good. I know them all better than they think, hell I'm their oldest brother, I know more about them than anyone. But they just don't listen. I knew that people would react harshly to seeing us and I know that's probably crushed all hopes and dreams they ever had about the surface-"  
"Leo calm down" Sam said. She was now on her knees and shaking him a bit as she kneeled at his right side. Leo hadn't realized how much he was huffing as he spoke, but Sam shaking him helped him realize his actions.  
"Sorry…" Leo muttered, looking down at the floor in embarrassment. He never went off like this, that or he usually contained himself until he was alone somewhere and then would rant to himself. If something truly upset him then he might rant things out to his father, but he never acted quite like this (huffing and puffing with shaky breaths and motions) in front of anyone, ever. Sam was the only one who had ever seen him like this before. He had had a few rough arguments with Raph where he went off to 'patrol alone' when really he just needed to get away for a bit, and Sam was the only one who saw through his act no matter how calm he made himself seem to be.  
Back to current times, Sam was showing a small smile to Leo.  
"I'm your sister, I'm the one you're supposed to go to when you feel this way" she said as she slumped back against the wall and next to her friend now that he had calmed down.  
"Leo, I understand that you can't stand to see them get hurt in any way, but you need to be open with them as to why you do what you do. If you explain your reasoning to them then maybe they'll try to work with you and not against you…though I'll admit I may have played a part in the working against you recently…sorry…" Sam said. Now it was her eyes that were looking down at the ground.  
Leo chuckled lightly.  
"It's fine. I think we all have made decisions that weren't exactly our best lately, and I should have discussed what I was doing when I left abruptly with Donnie. We could have talked about important things like retrieving the mutagen and also inspecting the robbery at the museum, but I was pissed and just left with Donnie without an explanation."  
"Basically, no one is working as a team. Everyone is just doing what they think is best. We're not communicating, and we're definitely not listening to each other" Sam said.  
Leo nodded his head.  
"When we get back, I'll have a team meeting and we can discuss everything that's happened. Maybe we can all try to find some middle ground about the ooze and what are next moves will be."  
Sam smiled and looked up at Leo.  
"Now that sounds like true leader talk right there" she said genuinely. Her expression then switched back over to a more serious one.  
"But Leo, you also need to stop hiding your brothers from the world as well and HEAR ME OUT FIRST!" Sam said bluntly and in a relatively higher voice, but not so high as to wake the rest of the brothers.  
Leo sat there with his mouth open, not expecting her to cut him off so fast. He pursed his lips together and just nodded his head.  
"Leo, when I say you can't, well more so you shouldn't hide them from the world, I mean parts of it. I'm pissed at what went down at headquarters hence my alien power surprise attack that was unexpected and definitely not part of the plan. I'm disappointed at what happened between you guys and the officers, but I swear on my life that not all humans are like that, and don't interrupt and say that April and I and Jay don't count because we do!"  
Again, Leo was caught off guard with his mouth open and a facial expression that showed he was about to fight against her statement, but once again he slumped back and closed his mouth, rolling his wrist for Sam to continue.  
"Thank you. Gosh you have no patience" Sam mumbled to tease him.  
"Get on with it" Leo groaned as he rolled his eyes.  
"I know that me and April and Jay are different, but I swear we're not the only ones. Out of the thousands of people that were forced into the Foot clan, about a solid hundred actually saw you. The rest know you exist, but they have never seen you. Regardless, there's A LOT of people that send Jay emails about wanting to meet you guys to thank you or to help you in some way."  
Leo's eyes widened some after hearing this.  
"Really?" he asked, turning his head to face her.  
Sam nodded with a huge smile. "Swear my life on it dude."  
"Then, why haven't we ever heard about all this help?"  
"Because whenever I even mention you meeting other humans you shut it down in mere seconds before I've even begun to explain. You make an on the spot decision to protect your family without thinking through all the options or hearing other people share their thoughts. Sound familiar?"  
Leo inhaled and exhaled slowly, understanding that Sam was referencing all the events that had happened recently in regards to ignoring his brother's thoughts and feelings towards the purple ooze.  
"So, back to the whole I'm trying to save my brothers but I'm actually doing the opposite…" Leo said in a low and pained voice.  
Sam put her hands on Leo's right arm gently. He turned to her to see the sorrow in her eyes.  
"Don't be like that. As harsh as your choices may be at times, every decision you ever make is to protect your brothers. It doesn't always come out nice, but you always mean well. Your brothers know that to, but of course they're not going to openly admit that to you. You're the older brother, they're the younger brothers, none of you are EVER going to admit when the others are right and that you were wrong. That's just all families ever" Sam said with a chuckle.  
This lead to a chuckle escaping from Leo as well.  
He put his right arm around the girl and gave her a light hug.  
"Thanks Sam. I don't know how I got by for 16 years without you" he said sincerely with a genuine smile.  
Sam leaned into his side as a way to continue the hug.  
"Just be lucky I'm here now" she said playfully. "And know that I can help you guys too. We're a family, we all have each other's backs. I know people that can help you guys as well. You just need to be more open and not shut an idea down because the first thought in your head is how it can go horribly wrong, which you overly exaggerate sometimes" Sam teased.  
"Yeah, yeah whatever" Leo said with a laugh. "I'll try to improve on my habit of not listening and going straight to overly overprotective mode, okay?"  
"Setting goals for personal change and growth, also an excellent quality of a leader" Sam teased. "So, what did you mean earlier when you said you knew the guys better than they thought?"  
"*sigh* they think I don't know what their secret hopes are in regards to living topside as a human. But I know, and I know that that's the great thing about hopes. Hopes you can continue to look forward to, you can picture them in your head for as long as you want…but once something proves that a hope can't happen, it goes from a blissful dream to a crushed nightmare" Leo said glumly.  
Sam nodded her head. "So you were afraid that a bad experience would ruin their dreams of what life would be like as humans?"  
Leo nodded slowly.  
"I know Donnie wants to work with human scientists because he thinks he can truly make a difference when it comes to tech and medicine, and I know he would make incredible accomplishments. I also know that he lies when he says he doesn't think about romance. He thinks about it, but he knows the probability of it happening are low, so he has an 'it will never happen so why think about it anyway?' type mindset. But I know it's fake and that he wants a family and a career on the surface. And I know Raph is the same way. Heh, one time Raph got stuck knitting while balancing one foot on a tricycle for hours, and Sensei said the only thing he would do to make the punishment a little better was to let him watch t.v. He got stuck watching 60's and 70's sitcoms which actually made the routine worse for Raph, but then some show came on and there were a bunch of little kids on it. He'll never admit it, but you could tell by his face that something changed when he saw that show. He used to be the same as Donnie, why think of it when it will never happen, but ever since then he's always wondered what it would be like to have a wife and kids, but he'd take that info with him to his grave. I'd share about Mikey butttttt I think his story is most obvious" Leo chuckled.  
He turned to Sam and saw that she had a sincere and heartfelt expression on her face as she stared up at him.  
"It's sad that your brothers don't hear you talk like this more often, I feel like they would understand what goes on in your head better and they might even understand why you act the way you do."  
Leo was honestly confused. "What are you talking about?"  
"You notice things about them, things they probably think only they know about. You watch over your brothers and try to protect them in ways they don't understand. You literally fight so hard to protect them from cruel realities that you end up going overboard, and because of that they end up fighting back against you, but that's only because they don't understand your intentions. You have nothing but heartfelt intentions for all of them and yet they always lead to arguments because of the lack of communication."  
"Heh, welcome to Being the Oldest Sibling 101" Leo joked.  
"Are you ever going to tell them any of this?" Sam asked gently.  
Leo pursed his lips together.  
"Eventually. It probably won't be as in depth as our conversation though. The only time the four of us talk like that is when we're truly hurting emotionally, and this isn't that serious."  
"Typical boys" Sam said as she rolled her eyes.  
Leo laughed at her reaction, and then switched back to a more calm and serious tone.  
"I regret acting the way I did, I really do. They'd go overboard in making me realize that though so I'll never say it in front of them, but if I could go back and redo things, I would do it all differently. I wouldn't have had Donnie hide the news from the others, I wouldn't have benched Raph and Mikey, and I definitely wouldn't have said-"  
"There's only one vote that counts in this family, MINE" Sam mocked as she quickly sat up and voiced a horribly hilarious rough and tough impression of Leo. He couldn't help but laugh at the way his friend just acted.  
"That. I never would have said that" he said covering his mouth to quiet the volume of his laughter.  
"Well, if you're not going to apologize, then do your best to think things out carefully and communicate with your brothers next time. Sometimes actions are a better apology than just words that could mean nothing."  
Leo now had a huge smile on his face.  
"I'm glad."  
Sam smiled at him but furrowed her brow in confusion.  
"About what?"  
"That you're my sister."  
Now it was Sam's turn to smile.  
"Not bad for the thief you kicked out of your home the first night we met, huh?"  
"Ughhhh we have moved past that. Leave it alone" Leo groaned teasingly.  
Sam then flicked him on the side of the head.  
"Ow. What was that for?"  
"Who cares because it's in the past" Sam said in a mocking tone.  
Leo bit his lip and nodded.  
"Alright, touché" he said with a chuckle. "Hey, is your tablet all charged up yet?"  
"Ummmm at least one of them should be by now, why?"  
Leo then displayed one of his extremely rare childish expressions.  
"Wanna watch Space Heroes?"  
Sam mockingly shook her head with a smile.  
"Give me a second. I'll pull up Netflix."

It was now close to 9a.m. as Sam sat next to Leo as the two watched Space Heroes together (Sam being the only person who would happily watch the show alongside the out of character fanboy). What these two didn't know is that they weren't alone the whole time they were talking. Donnie had been falling in and out of sleep ever since Sam shimmied away from him almost an hour earlier, and Raph had gained consciousness not long after. Both of them kept their eyes closed the entire time and secretly had heard every part of the conversation. Since there was nothing that signaled danger, Mikey had slept through the whole thing, but Raph and Donnie heard all they needed to hear. They both always knew that Leo cared for them as much as they did for him, but they also knew Sam was right in saying that they had never tried to understand their oldest brother's mindset as well. Deciding to follow through with the concept of actions being a better apology than words, the two mentally decided that they would try to work with their oldest brother and hear him out before blowing up at him every time they didn't agree with his decisions.

For now, the two decided they would just lay low and continue to pretend that they were still asleep…until their stomachs also started making noises and they had to ask Sam for food.

 **Real quick I just want to give a shout out to the guest(s) who have left comments throughout the different chapters of this story. This shout out is a thank you for leaving your responses to the different chapters. I can't send you a private message to thank you, so I want to say hear that your comments and views mean a lot. And to everyone who leaves views and comments, thank you so much. All the support means the world to me and helps motivate me to continue sharing the images I see in my head.**

 **Again, thank you all so very much. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)**


	37. Chapter 37

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #37

 ***Sunday June 7** **th** **, 2015. 11:00a.m. in the plane. Location: somewhere over the Caribbean Sea, just crossing over the border over top of Venezuela.**

Sam and Leo had begun watching Space Heroes around 9a. by 9:30a.m. the rest of the brothers had woken up as well. The group turned to Sam, knowing that she would be the one to have snacks either because she packed them herself, or because Mikey had snuck them into her bag. After they had all eaten some, they went back to just relaxing on the plane as they waited for their time to arrive in Brazil.  
It was now about 11a.m. Everyone had remained calm during the nighttime because the air had been nice and cool…but now that it was the middle of the day, the hot and humid air was kicking in, and everyone felt miserable. Mikey was slouched against the right wall of the inside of the cargo space of the plane. Raph was sitting not far off from Mikey's spot as he threw a small red ball as it bounced off the floor and then off the box in front of him. He needed to move in some way or else he would lose his shit. Leo was attempting to keep calm as he sat even further across the right wall. Donnie was sitting on the opposite side of the plane looking at one of his many tablets (which he gave Sam a huge thanks for charging them once he officially woke up). And then there was Sam herself, who was setting her gear up and attaching and tightening her nylon webbing chest harness on her body (and setting up some other materials now that they were a couple hours away from reaching their destination. You never know what random situation might come up, so one always needed to be prepared).

"Ughhhh" Mikey groaned as he fanned himself, "aren't there supposed to be like, pretty stewardesses handing out warm hand towels and stuff?"  
Raph sighed as he tried to remain calm, knowing that getting worked up would just make him sweat and overheat even more.  
"Not down here Mikey, not for us."  
Raph then looked over towards Sam who was standing in the middle of the space between himself and Leo. At the moment she was pulling her hair back and tightening it as much as she could.  
Raph smirked. "Sam's the closest thing we're gonna get" he said with an expression that made it known he wanted her to hear him.  
Sam froze for a second after hearing her name and then processing how it was used. Once what she thought was the message had been received, she turned towards Raph with a cocky smile.  
"DAMN. STRAIGHT!" she said pointing at him, "I'm the best at the best at being prepared for anything!"  
Leo covered his mouth, trying to hide his laughter at Sam unintentionally admitting that she was like a stewardess or like a maid. Obviously she had heard Raph wrong or missed part of what he said. Even Mikey shot Sam a weird look, confused at her response.  
Raph just smiled and shook his head.  
"Alright stewardess, throw me a towel."  
Sam was taken aback. "I'm sorry, I'm what now?"  
Leo started laughing a bit louder.  
"Hey, you're the one that admitted to it, now fork a towel over" Raph said playfully.  
Sam paused, now finally realizing that Raph hadn't teased her about always being prepared, but obviously had actually said she was like a maid and she admitted to it.  
Sam pouted. "I don't know what you're talking about" she said as she crossed her arms and looked the other way.  
Raph just rolled his eyes. "Oh please. Everyone here knows that you have at least one small towel so that if someone starts bleeding you can stop it" he said matter of factly, crossing his arms over his chest.  
Sam turned her head some and peeked through one eye at him.  
"Ugh, fine. But I'm not your stewardess though!" she said as she launched a small cloth at him.  
"Heyyyy" Mikey pouted.  
"I only have two, so you have to share" Sam said with a serious expression as she pointed back and forth between Mikey and Raph. She then turned around and tossed the other small cloth to Leo. "You share with Bill Nye over there, got it?" she said as she shot him the same expression she made towards the other two.  
Leo smiled and nodded as he wiped off his face, blessed to finally get some of this warm sweat off his body. Even he was having difficulty just sitting here in the scorching humid air.

The room lit up some as the screen from Donnie's tablet now projected in the air right in front of his face. Donnie then stood up, a worried expression taking over his face.  
"Oh boy. Bebop and Rocksteady are already in-route back to New York."  
"What?!" Leo said as he stood up and rushed over to his brother's side.  
Raph also stood up. He gritted his teeth, acknowledging that the fight was about to start earlier than expected.  
Mikey continued to hang back some, knowing there was nothing he could do. He looked at Sam who was now standing next to him. He assumed that she would want in on the action, yet she continued to hang back with him. He gently threw his arm around the girls shoulder as a way to let her know he appreciated her actions, and she then smiled as she was physically informed that he received the message. They both returned to their serious expressions once they heard Don's voice.  
"They must have retrieved the last piece they needed to open the portal" he said as he continued to press different images on the projected screen and analyze the information they provided.  
"What game is he playing?" Mikey whispered to Sam, curious about the image of the two planes that looked like they were about to hit each other.  
"It's not a game. He's playing around with the coordinates, seeing where our route intertwines wither theirs" she whispered in reply.  
Donatello then snapped his finger, pointed in Sam's direction, and then gave her a thumbs up, all the while never looking away from the images in front of him.  
Leo continued to look over the screen as he stood next to Donnie.  
"It looks like our plane is about to cross right over theirs. Right?" Leo asked.  
"Yeah, with about a 3,000 foot separation" Donnie replied.  
Raph was now looking over Leo's shoulder, watching Donnie type away at the floating images. Even Mikey had grown interested and had moved closer, though this was more so because he was distracted by the floating images.  
"So what's the plan D? If they retrieved the piece then we need to get to them now" Sam remarked.  
"Uhhhh, I can plot a course for intercept, but we'd have to jump" Donnie replied.  
All Raph heard was one word which switched his gritted teeth expression to a worried eyes wide open expression. "Jump?"  
"Jump. J-U-M-P. To push oneself off a surface and into the air by using the muscles in one's legs and feet. Synonyms include-"  
"Sam I'm about to rip your freaking face off" Raph snarled.  
Sam's eyes went wide as she threw her hands up in defense. "My bad" she said, though she was trying her hardest not to smile while doing so. She was expecting some type of sarcastic remark, but definitely not such a defensive one from the rough and tough Raphael.  
Mikey was nodding his head in excitement.  
"Man this is gonna be sweeeeeet!" he said as he ran over and high fived Sam.  
"Uhhhhhhh" Raph droned, not knowing what to think.  
Donnie picked up on this immediately. He pat his older brother on the shoulder and shot him a smile.  
"Raph, it's the only way to catch them. You got this, okay?"  
Raph pursed his lips and nodded. Knowing that he didn't have much of a choice, he tried his hardest just to suck it up and get this over with.

As quickly as he could, Donnie explained the plan to the rest of the group. He would use his grappling gun with the metal bridge to secure him to the plane using the suction cups on the metal bridge device. He then instructed his siblings on how to wear the nylon webbing waist harnesses which was basically a belt (Sam wore a chest harness instead just because the guys wanted to be extra cautious with her) and that once they reached the plane they would then snap the snap hooks on their belts to the metal base attached to the plane. They all made sure their harnesses, their thick lanyard cables (the material between the snap hook and the metal base) and their snap hooks were prepared and being worn correctly. Donnie then made sure Sam had an ear piece set up so that he could communicate with her while they were both in the air. He then made sure her pack was secured as tightly to her as it possibly could be, that her harness was tightened and worn correctly, that her ear piece was in right, and even that her hair was secured tightly enough that it wouldn't interfere with her vision. It literally looked like an adult securing a child in for an amusement park ride.  
"Ughhhh Donnie I'm fineeeaaa" Sam groaned, tilting her head and body back slightly to show how annoyed she was.  
Donnie sighed. "Just be careful, okay? I've been keeping records of the results from all the times we've tested your powers, but this is something we've never tested before. Please, just be as safe as you possibly can be" he said, resting his hand on her shoulder.  
Of course, Sam was a little shit, and in situations like this she could only respond to show she understood in the only way she knew how: pure sarcasm.  
"No" she said shaking her head, "I'm just gonna jump out of that plane and free fall. Safety is not a word in my vocabulary" she said with a kindhearted smile.  
To a normal person, this would be seen as extremely rude. However, Donnie knew Sam well enough to know that this was her way of saying she understood what he was asking and would do everything she could to keep herself out of harm's way.  
He gently lifted his hand to the side of her head and then, without being too rough, pushed her head to the side and down some.  
"Idiot" he said with a grin.

Raph and Mikey had been standing next to Leo who was holding Donnie's device from before.  
"Donnie, it's almost time" Leo called.  
Donnie nodded as he walked over and collected the device. He made sure all his materials were ready before walking over to the door. His brothers and Sam walked right behind him.  
The door opened. From left to right stood Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, Sam, and then Michelangelo. Huge gusts of wind blew into the back of the plane as soon as the door made even the slightest crack and began to open.  
Raph's instant reaction was to throw his left arm up and gently push Sam back some so that she was as far away from the opening as possible, to which her face scrunched up in confusion from the unexpected protection.  
Donnie instantly started looking down as he tried to locate the plane that should soon be appearing in sight.  
Leo just looked out into the open space and gritted his teeth. He didn't mind being up high, but being up THIS HIGH was nothing he had ever experienced before. This was definitely different from the building heights he was used to. He kept turning his head to check on his younger brother who made it clear he was not enjoying this portion of their mission.  
"Uhhhh guys, I don't think this is such a good idea!" Raph announced.  
Sam was still shocked. _"And I thought I had a fear of heights"_ she thought to herself. Normally she would react the same way, but ever since she gained her new abilities, heights did not scare her anywhere near as much as they used to. Plus, she had a target, so it wasn't like she was actually free falling. Sam looked to her left and began to smile at Mikey who had a huge smile on his face as he leaned onto the edge of the door way so that he could get a better look at the sights below.  
Sam found it interesting how Mikey seemed to think this was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, while Raph seemed to think this was the most terrifying thing her had ever seen.  
Mikey heard his brother's worried statement. He then turned and patted his brother on the shoulder (though it made Raph shudder because e of how nervous he was). This shudder allowed for Sam to slip under the large turtles arm so that she could also take a step closer and get a better look at the view. For once in her life she could actually enjoy a view like this without panicking like her life was about to end.  
"Aww come on Raph!" Mikey exclaimed, "this is gonna be fun!" he said as he more playfully slapped his brothers shoulder, again, making Raph shudder.  
Leo then turned to smile at his younger brother.  
"Come on, you've faced tougher things than this" he encouraged, throwing an arm around Raph's shoulder.  
"Like?" Raph growled, though he'd be a liar if he said he didn't feel more comfortable with his brother's arm around him. It was like it was an anchor keeping him grounded.  
"Likeeeeee when we almost came crashing down from that tower" Leo replied.  
"What?!" Sam shouted, turning around in excited shock. "Where was I when that happened?!"  
Leo shook his head and smiled. "Didn't know you yet."  
"Awwww man you missed it! Raph cried and everything!" Mikey announced.  
"WHAT?!" Sam shouted. "I MISSED THAT TOO?!"  
"MIKEY!" Raph bellowed, aiming to punch his brother in the shoulder.

What these four didn't realize was that this whole time Donnie had crouched down and used his goggles to zoom in and pin point the location of the oncoming plane. He stood up and turned to face his brothers, realizing that literally now was when they needed to jump.  
"We gotta go now-" Donnie started, only to be cut off as his other three brothers nodded and turned around to start putting on parachutes.  
Donnie just stood there dumbfounded, wondering what they were doing wasting time when they needed to jump NOW!  
He then turned to see that Sam was staring at the other three with the same exact expression that he had on his face.  
 _"Thank god for the same someone who always gets it"_ Don thought to himself.  
Sam turned back to face him and smiled, excited to wait for further instructions.  
"Well, NOW we only have a 30 second window. You guys know the plan" he said as he waved a hand behind him, even though he suspected his brothers wouldn't see it.  
Sam walked up next to him, and right before they departed from the vehicle, she looked up at him with a confident look and put her fists up to demonstrate the 'fighting/hwaiting' expression that many of her k-pop celebrities displayed.  
The two nodded towards each other and leapt out of the plane.

Mikey literally had just happened to turn around and see the two exit the plane.  
"Uhhhh dudes?"  
"What?" Leo responded after just finishing securing a parachute to Raph's back.  
"They jumped."  
This got the older two's attention as they both deadpanned to see the empty space behind them.  
"THEY JUMPED?!" Raph shouted, his eyes large and his mouth wide open in horror.  
"Uh huh" Mikey smirked.  
A cocky smile formed on Leo's face as well. He expected this bad assery from Sam, but it was more surprising to see Donnie act this way. Regardless, his brother's confidence meant it was time to move.  
"Alright, one for all" Leo said as he walked to the open entry way.  
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! YOU DON'T HAVE A-"  
"Whooo!" Leo shouted as he jumped out of the plane.  
Mikey was excited now that it was finally his turn.  
"I don't need a chute" he said in a calm and content manner, "I got my BOARD!"  
And that fast he had joined the rest of the group in jumping out of the plane. He placed his skateboard at his feet as he spun in circles. He tilted forward and spun and then spun in circles sideways. This was definitely the most exciting moment of his life right here. It was like he was in a cycle of completing skateboard tricks that never ended, like he was in a loop filled with excitement.  
No one noticed that Raph was freaking out as he moved around frantically, reaching his arms out as if he could still reach his brothers who were spiraling downward towards the other plane.

Meanwhile, at the front of the line, Donnie was getting closer and closer to his target. Sam, using her powers so that she was flying like Iron Man, hung back some so that she could monitor her friend.  
Donnie shut his grappling gun. The suction cupped prongs launched forward and made a direct connection and stuck to the top of the plane. Donnie pressed a button so that he now was being pulled even faster towards the plane. The momentum of the movement allowed him to swing all the way around from one side of the plane to the other as his body was then slammed down onto the top. Once his body connected to the top surface, Sam was instantly by his side. She helped him quickly stand up and connect his snap hook and lanyard cable to the metal bridge on the attached device.  
Sam was now currently her strength powers to keep her feet planted, as if she was literally fighting against the wind. She looked up to see two more figures moving in closer towards the plane, recognizing who was who. She saw that Leo was in the front and that Mikey was still spinning around in circles.  
 _"That dork"_ she thought to herself with a smile. Her smile soon faded as she calculated Leo's landing spot.  
"Leo's off" she said, positioning herself as she was about to fly upwards to get him.  
"Wait!" Donnie called out to her. "Mikey can help him. You need to savor as much power as you can. You don't know your limits here."

Sam nodded as she continued to look upward. Mikey had reached Leo and moved both of them upwards so that they would land on the plane, but now they were coming in uncontrollably fast.  
Sam quickly leapt to her left side and zoomed around to the back tail of the plane, prepared to catch one of the brothers in case they couldn't stick their landing. She was now standing along the right elevator wing on the plane, her increased strength keeping her body stabilized in place. She looked up to see Leo and Mikey make their impact on the top of the vehicle. Sam cringed as she saw Mikey land on his shoulders, grateful that her turtle friend had his shell on his back to brace most of the impact. Leo landed hard as well, but he managed to slam down onto his hands and knees. He rolled forward once and then, being the smooth and collected ninja he was, managed to land on his side with his hand and foot propping him up at an angle where he was able to slide down along the top of the plane. Mikey's landing, however, was not so graceful. He landed on his shoulders, then spun around on his side, and then landed on his back. Because of this he was never able to place his arms or legs onto the plane and was not able to stick a solid landing like Leo had. Bouncing off his shell also launched him a bit higher off the surface as well as he soared over top and past Leo.

Although he wasn't always graceful in his movements, Michelangelo was as quick as a bullet. He grabbed onto his nunchuks and extended them in hopes that Leo would be able to grab on. Leo was able to grab a hold with his right hand, but Donnie was now holding onto his left so that Leo and Mikey wouldn't go flying off into the air. Because of this, Leo and Mikey both slammed against the rudder of the plane. Within that split second Mikey had lost his grip and let go of his side of the weapon. Sam picked up on this immediately and launched herself forward. She grabbed onto Mikey's left hand while the momentum of her launch moved her body so that she continued to travel forward. She twisted her body so that her feet were flat on the plane as she stood sideways on the side of the plane, perpendicular to Leo. In doing this, Mikey's body was pulled in the same direction. In being pulled forward so swiftly, the position of his body had not moved at all as he continued to face forward with his arms extended outward. Because of this, he was able to once again grab ahold of the nunchuks in Leo's hand so that now two people were holding onto him.  
As quick as he could, Donnie walked over and grabbed hold of the snap hook and chord around Leo's waist.  
"Sam!" Donnie shouted.  
Sam nodded and switched places with Donnie who had walked around Leo. Donnie was using both his hands to hold onto Mikey's right wrist. Leo quickly pulled Mikey's arm forward and then switched his own hands so that he was now using his left arm to hold Mikey's wrist, his right arm now holding onto the rudder of the plane with all the strength he had. Meanwhile, Sam had used all her strength to fly forward and snap Leo's hook onto the metal platform.  
"You're good!" Sam shouted, using her strength to stay put in her spot.  
Leo and Donnie used all their might to pull Mikey forward. The two held onto their baby brother's hands for dear life as they all fought their hardest to walk forward.  
Sensing their struggle, Sam walked forward and used both her hands to grab onto Leo's open left hand in order to help the group move forward. Donnie placed his free hand on Mikey's back in case his younger brother fell, that way he could grab onto him in some way and still try to keep him safe. Mikey leaped forward and connected his snap hook to the platform. Now that he was safe, he let the wind pull him back.  
Suddenly, Sam's vision went black. For literally two seconds her body went limp and the wind began to take her backwards, but luckily Mikey and Leo both grabbed onto one her arms. By the time her consciousness returned, she was flying backwards with the two turtles being the only reason she wasn't flying into midair by herself. She pulled herself forward and was able to get her feet back onto the plane's surface.  
Mikey now pulled Sam in front of him so that her body could lean against his rather than flying backwards if whatever just happened would happen again.  
"What was that?!" Leo called out to her.  
"Uhhh, I slipped" Sam lied. She honestly had no idea what had just happened either, but she wasn't about to admit that. Not now at least.  
Sam looked around and realized she was only standing with three brothers.  
"Uh, guys? Where's Raph?"  
"There!" Mikey shouted as he pointed upwards at a figure falling towards the plane. "Looks like he's coming in kinda fast" Mikey said, slightly worried about his brother's location towards the plane. They saw Raph deploy his shoot due to him falling to far forward and almost missing the plane completely. The group cringed as they saw the chute pull Raph up and slam him into the front window of the plane. Sam noticed that the parachute was pulling to Raph's right and was aiming down towards where the jet engine was. Terrified that Raph would get sucked up and torn to shreds, and without considering how weak she felt, Sam ran and launched herself forward and then down some so that she was in the open space between the engine and the body of the plane. She made it just in time to pull Raph closer towards her and out of the direction of the engine and then upwards.  
What Sam didn't see was Raph now holding onto the wing of the plane. He held on as much as he could, but the pull of the wind was stronger. Raph was ripped from the wing as he went soaring back, but luckily was caught by Leo who had leapt outward and to the side, knowing that the lanyard cable connecting him to the metal platform would keep him safe. The two brother's latched onto each other as Raph then dug his sai into the plane, keeping them both still.  
"Nice catch!" Raph shouted to his older brother.  
The two used all their might as they pulled themselves back towards their other brothers. Raph latched himself onto the plane and then looked around.  
"Where's Sam?!" he shouted.  
Mikey shrugged. "We saw her fly back that way and we thought she was with you!"  
Donnie then pressed the button on his ear piece.  
"Sam?! Sam where are you?!" he shouted.  
 _"Ummmm I'm in a bit of a situation."  
_ "There!" Leo said. He was turned around and pointing towards the rudder of the plane where Sam was holding on for dear life.  
"Sam what's wrong?!" Donnie shouted.

What the brothers had not seen was a weak Sam use the last bit of energy she had left to save Raph, and because of this, her body went limp again as she was dragged to the back bottom side of the plane. Luckily it had only been for a few seconds again, so when she gained her consciousness she was able to grab onto the bottom of the plane. She had literally used the last of her energy to pull herself up and angle herself so that she was now hugging the rudder as she faced away from the brothers.  
Once Sam had explained all this through her ear piece, all four boys felt their hearts beating in their chests harder than before.  
Donnie quickly tried to think of a plan.  
"Alright Sam! You're going to launch yourself straight forward one more time! There's four of us, so one of us will catch you, but you have to aim straight and low, okay?!" Donnie shouted, the wind starting to bring tears to his eyes since he had been standing here the longest.  
Sam gulped and then agreed. She took a deep breath, mustered up all the strength she had left (which was little to none) and launched herself towards the guys. For the third time now, Sam's vision went dark and her body went limp. The wind quickly pulled her body back, but she had four large turtles watching her every move. Sam's body traveled straight back and, ironically, she was pulled right in Raph's direction. The largest brother jumped up and grabbed onto her as he held her close to his body. Donnie instantly grabbed for the snap hook on her chest harness and locked her in so that she could no longer fly away from them. All four brothers sighed in relief once Sam was locked in place.

By the time Sam's eyes opened back up she could no longer felt the wind on her face and could no longer feel the sunlight on her skin. Her ears picked up the sounds of male screams and as she slowly began to open up her eyes, she saw four green figures tossing black figures. She began to sit up, but she stopped as she felt a slight pounding in her head.  
The boys had just tossed the last Foot soldier out of the plane when they heard a noise and looked over to see Sam wincing.  
Mikey and Donnie walked over towards Sam while Leo and Raph shut the door.  
Donnie began checking to make sure her vision, heartbeat, and other vitals were okay (which they were to his relief).  
"You okay?" Sam asked him.  
Donnie's eyes went wide. "Me? You're the one that blacked out three times."  
"Hehe, well it looks like we're learning more about my limits."  
"Not funny."  
Sam turned to see Leo staring at her with angered concern.  
Sam nodded. "I know. Sorry" she said feeling guilty. "Is everyone okay?"  
She looked around to see all four turtles were with her, and this brought a smile to her face.  
Mikey and Donnie helped her stand up. The group then walked over to a large box in the middle of the room. The boys each took a side and ripped it off. All five of them now crouched down as they looked at the device behind the glass that was emitting a purple glow.  
"Okay, this must be what they came to Brazil for" Leo said, looking at the object with curiosity.  
"It's an interdimensional portal opening thingy mabob" Mikey stated, eyes wide as he wondered how exactly this device worked.  
"Well there's probably a more technical name for it" Donnie stated.  
Sam smirked, she wasn't sure what was funnier: Mikey saying typical Mikey gibberish, or that Donnie was already nerding out and examining the new device as he pulled his goggles over his eyes.  
Sam then noticed something moving on the other side of the glass as she stood up between Mikey and Donnie.  
Raph had noticed this as well as he also stood up. He then grabbed onto Mikey's head and turned it to face forward.  
"Uh, guys?" Raph asked with wide eyes.  
Mikey looked up with an excited smile at what was now in front of them. Donnie and Leo both turned to look forward and were now mimicking Raph's expression.  
"Oh" Donnie said, placing his goggles back on top of his head.  
"Oh boy" Leo remarked.  
In front of them was a HUGE rhino and warthog mutant duo, kicking their feet and snorting loudly.  
Of course, Mikey was unphased as always and was more focused on how awesome this sight was rather than focusing on the fact that he needed to fight these giants.  
"Dude, bringing back the Mohawk! Good for you" he said as he stretched his arms out in a 'smooth and cool' motion.  
"Oh you guys have jokes huh?" the warthog asked as he smoothed his hair and put on his purple glasses. "Well let's see how funny you are, after he bash your heads in!" he announced as he punched his fist into his head.

The two giants charged at the group of five, and that's when the true battle began.

 **So I just recently finished watching the 2012 Nickelodeon series and my goodness this show was amazing. I'm slightly pissed at the extremely vague open-ended ending, but I also know that this is part of a contract deal that Nickelodeon has based on an article I read. Regardless, I still loved the series and I enjoyed everything it had to offer. I loved the romance (though I'm also slightly irked that it was hinted that Mikey ends up with Renet. I like him and Shini together way more. I liked his adorkable and comical side mixed with her smooth and badass personality. There was something about them where they had obvious differences but they were also mischievous and could easily get along well together. Totally shipped the hell out of those two as I did all the other couples). The action was intense and there were even emotional moments I was not expecting. I know everyone is allowed to their own opinion, but I'm shocked that there are people who basically bashed the hell out of this series. But hey, to each their own, and I will always respect others as long as they respect my thoughts back. But man I loved this series and I'm sad that it's over, but I'm also extremely interested to see how this new series will play out. Like for…what, about 20 to 30 years since the turtles debuted (if I'm doing my math the right way, which mental math is my worst subject ever, so please don't judge me) I feel like a solid 70-90% of what happens in every TMNT film/tv series is OVERALL very similar. For example, Raph clashing with Leo because he wants to be leader instead of his big brother, April always being a white woman (don't worry, I know she was a black woman in the comics either in the beginning or at least at some point, sorry I still have A LOT to learn from the comics) who is either a reporter or a lab assistant, Leo attempts to stay calm and collected and usually ends up being an ass because of it but hey it's okay because in the end he works together with his brothers and they all come together as a team, Leo usually being one of the most mature ones (though not always), Mikey usually being the main (not only) dork and goofball in the family, etc. But this new series is changing up a lot of things that I feel fans have just become accustomed to. Like, at first I was getting a bit upset as I heard all these new changes, but then I thought this mindset over and actually became more excited for the new show. Guess I'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out once it airs! For now I'm going to attempt to watch episodes from the 03 series while I also read the Batman and TMNT collab series and MAN THAT COMIC IS FREAKING AMAZING SO FAR! I'm reading it at a ridiculously slow pace, but man what I've seen so far is pretty dang cool.**

 **Thank you for reading my rant:**

 **-TheNerdyTomboyNewb96**


	38. Chapter 38

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #38

 **Sunday June 7** **th** **, 2015. About 12:00p.m. Minutes after entering the enemy plane, the fight begins with Bebop and Rocksteady.**

Within seconds of the two groups of mutants (and a mutagenic human) meeting face to face, the fight had begun.  
Leo ran towards Bebop, but the warthog was one step quicker and swung his fist forward. The collision made a brutal sound that echoed throughout the plane as Leo was flipped over onto his back.  
Rocksteady had charged towards Raph. The turtle's punches did little to nothing as the rhinoceros picked him up and slammed the turtle onto his back.  
Both turtles had received rough blows at the beginning of the fight, but as always, they were quick to analyze the situation and they bounced back fast.  
Bebop was about to slam his elbow into Leo's chest, but he rolled away in time and then quickly got to his feet. Leo then took a step forward as he used all his strength to pick up the fallen mutant and threw him towards the front of the plane.  
Raph had elbowed Rocksteady in the jaw, and within the two seconds the rhino spent rubbing his jaw, Raph had hooked his hands around the larger mutant and picked him up. He spun in a circle and launched Rocksteady towards the back of the plane where he crashed onto the tank that was chained to the floor.

Mikey had thrown his arm out to the side as a means to block Sam (why people kept doing this today, she didn't have a clue). Mikey's mindset was that Sam had blacked out three times while they had traveled from one plane to the next, so he wanted to keep her out of the fight as long as he could. So if Leo and Raph had these two giant mutants under control for now, then he wanted it to stay that way.  
Meanwhile, Donnie had rushed towards the alien device and held it up high over his head.  
"Watch it!" he shouted when Leo had thrown Bebop away from him.  
"Careful!" he shouted when Raph spun and tossed Rocksteady off of him as if the rhino weighed nothing.  
Leo run up to Bebop as he continued their brawl while Donnie grabbed the device and ran to the side of the plane where he would be away from all the commotion. Raph was about to start charging Rocksteady once more until he heard his youngest brother panicking from the other side of the plane.  
"Uhhhhh guys?!" Mikey alarmed as he gritted his teeth and waved his hand towards the rhino's direction. Everyone but Leo, who was too busy spin kicking Bebop and connecting his foot with the pig's face, was now staring wide eyed as Rocksteady climbed into the seat of the tank. A wicked smile grew on his face as he sat down, took his aim, and began shooting away from the back of the plane.  
Mikey knew Leo wasn't aware of this, so he dashed over and jumped onto Leo so that the two were now on the ground.  
However, Sam had no idea where these bullets would land and if the two would make it down in time, so she jumped in front of them and used her wind powers to push the bullets upwards and diagonally behind them. The bullets dodged the two turtles, but they still trashed the front of the plane. Sam looked up to see the two pilots be ripped from their seats from the wind pressure as their parachutes then kicked in and let them float in the air.  
She then looked around as the four turtles stood up from their various locations. Donnie and Mikey shot the rhino a depressed look, shocked at how dumb he truly was. Even Mikey knew that he was smart enough not to make such a dumb move as shooting off a tank's gun, well, inside anywhere ever.  
Raph stood up and glared at the mutant as he shook his head.  
Leo stood up and moved his arms in a way as if to question what the heck this idiot was thinking.  
"Dude! Seriously?!" Bebop shouted.  
Sam shook her head. " _It's pretty bad when your own teammate is questioning your moves_ " she thought to herself.

Sam quickly looked around and observed her surroundings.  
At the time, Raph was still near the back of the plane where the tank had been, Donnie and Bebop were on opposite sides of the middle space, and then she, Mikey, and Leo were further towards the front, but that was before the plane started tipping.  
With no one controlling the plane and with all the huge gusts of wind entering the vehicle, the plane began to dip downwards and gradually twisting in circles as well.  
Somehow this movement had caused Leo and Raph to literally get ripped from their spots and thrown to where the other was standing. Sam slipped and fell, and if she hadn't used her wind powers to launch herself forward, Bebop would have landed on her. Donnie slipped and lost his grasp of the device as it fell and landed in Mikey's hands.  
"Got it!" he shouted…before he became the cushion to Donnie's fall since the older brother could not find anything to grab onto. Donnie quickly squirmed and crawled away towards the very front of the plane where the steering mechanisms were located.  
"I'll take that!" Bebop announced as the device literally just landed in his hands.  
Mikey stood up shakily and rubbed the back of his head.  
"Yeah I don't got it" he said, right before a large box fell on him.  
"Don't worry guys, I'll level out the plane!" Donnie announced as he sat in the front seat.

At this point Sam was moving all over the plane. She was trying to only use her powers when she truly needed to, so she was using her skills from basic training in order to dodge all the violently falling and flying boxes. Leo and Raph were trying to maintain their balance and dodge all the debris as well, but there were certain times where the plane would twist and the two couldn't control their movements, including the most recent movement where they went to dodge falling boxes and instead both ended up landing on Sam in the process.  
"Sorry" they cringed.  
Sam looked dazed as she lay there.  
"Awesome…" she mumbled, not being able to say much else after having the wind knocked out of her like that.  
Leo then quickly pulled her up and towards him as he jumped back away from another falling box.  
"Sam! I could use your help!" Donnie shouted from the front of the plane.  
Sam did her best to maintain her balance as she moved, but Leo and Raph could sense that she needed some help. Leo held onto Sam's arm as he carefully helped her jump over towards Raph. Raph then held onto the girl as he dived forward, avoiding a spiraling Bebop in the process. Sam turned back once more and saw that the remaining three turtles were overall managing to take care of themselves. Knowing this, she deemed it okay to crawl towards the cockpit and join Donnie in the front seat.  
"Oh wow" Sam said with wide eyes as she now for the first time realized that there was little to no type of steering or anything to keep this plane up in the air.  
"Sam, you think you still have some energy left in you?" Donnie shouted through the loud winds rushing by them as they continued to spiral downward.  
"I can do whatever you need me to!" Sam shouted back.  
"There's a chance I'll need to you fly under the plane and use your strength to push it back upwards. I'm trying to do that now and I'm failing!" he shouted as he struggled in controlling the steering wheel of the plane.  
"Alright!" Sam said as she went to stand up.  
"NO! Don't go until I say so!" Donnie shouted.  
Sam nodded. "Got it!"  
Donnie noticed that as she talked to him, she also continued to watch what was happening behind her on the plane.  
Sam saw Mikey literally running in circles from the top to the side walls to the bottom of the plane in a continuous pattern.  
"Careful! As some of the items may have shifted during flight!" he shouted as he forcefully stomped onto a fallen Bebop's chest during his energetic and momentum filled run.  
Bebop grunted as the device flew from his hands and into Mikey's. The youngest turtle held onto the device above his head, but he didn't have the best grip on said device. Raph stumbled near Mikey as he fought to regain his balance after diving with Sam towards the front. Because of him not regaining his footing, he stumbled near Mikey and the device banged Raph's head due to Mikey's weak grasp.  
The device then went flying backwards towards Leo who had literally just finally regained his balance within the flying vehicle.  
Bebop quickly flipped onto his feet and charged towards Leo. Of course, the turtle was much quicker and leaped up in time so that Bebop ran right under him and smashed into his companion who had been strapped in his seat in the now upside down tank. The force from the hit caused the chains to break as the tank crashed onto the ground. The impact was so heavy that Rocksteady's head literally smashed through the metal of the plane.  
Sam sighed out in relief as she saw Leo roll away in time before the tank would have squished him onto the floor.  
Sam then turned her head when she heard Donnie make a weird panicked sound. Sam's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped as she saw Donatello sitting in the driver's seat with the handles to the steering wheel now completely disconnected from the rest of the plane as Donnie held it in front of his face with wide eyes of his own.  
"Are you…holding the thing that keeps us alive…in front of your face?" Sam asked with what would be deemed a hilariously dumbfounded expression, if they weren't about to crash into the ground.  
Donnie quickly grabbed his bo from a spot on his pack and then grabbed Sam's hand.  
"I am now" he said as he nodded to her with a slightly confident slash nervous smile.  
 _"How ya doing up there Donnie?"_ Leo's voice echoed from further back inside the plane.  
"Uhh, everything's great. I'm doing awesome!" he called back, hoping that this would really be the case with him and Sam working together.  
"Now?!" Sam called out to the turtle sitting next to her, a small smirk crawling up on her lips.  
"Now!" he shouted back.  
Sam flew forward and then under the nose of the plane. At the same time, Donnie had extended his bo staff so that it now connected into the spot where the steering handles had been. Donnie pulled back as far as he could so that the steering mechanisms would pull the plane up. Sam was now using all her strength to fly and push the plane upwards as much as she possibly could.  
Sam couldn't help but close her eyes as she saw the ground closing in faster and faster, until suddenly she felt the weight above give some.  
She opened her eyes to see that Donnie's plan had worked and that both their strength's had pulled through as the plane began to scoop itself back up into the air.

Meanwhile, in the back of the plane, everything that had been flying around was now falling straight through the back open whole in the plane.  
Raph was tripped by a sliding box as he collapsed onto the surface of the plane. He dug his sais into the floor of the plane in order to prevent himself from falling backwards with the rest of the debris. As he continued to use his sais to stabilize him, he rolled to his right and then to his left in order to dodge multiple other sliding boxes that were about to fall out the back of the plane. Then he rolled as hard and as fast as he could to the right side of the plane as the tank began to slide backwards. As the tank fell backwards, it broke off the rest of the back of the plane so that now a huge hole was visible, meaning that anything that fell without anything to hold onto would fall to the ground. Luckily, Raph dug his sai into the floor so that his body was outside the plane, but he was still planted in one spot. The two larger mutants went flying out the back, and if Raph hadn't just grabbed onto his brother's hand, then Leo would have been sent flying with them.  
Raph swung him and his older brother back into the plane as it spun once again.  
Mikey had still somehow managed to maintain his spot closer towards the front of the plane.  
"Guys, where's Sam?!" Mikey called out as he spun in circles looking for his best friend.  
In his distracted frenzy, Mikey completely missed a box that slid past him and was now aiming for Raph. The large turtle dove to his left and avoided the box, but as the plane now projected forward at a tremendous speed, Raph was not able to stand back up.

Sam had just now returned at this time through the front of the plane. She grabbed onto one of the seatbelts from the side and latched onto it as she wrapped the belts around one of her wrists, but still keeping it slightly loose so that it wouldn't rip her hand off depending on a traumatic and forceful impact or collision.  
She saw Leo spin around and grab Raph's hand, the roles now reverses from what they were mere seconds ago. Leo was just starting to pull his older brother in when a piece of the wing (what was left of it) broke off and caught part of Raph's foot as it pulled him along with it.  
"RAPH!" Leo called after his brother.  
Sam was able to look out and see that they were relatively close to the water now, so that should mean that Raph would land hard in the water, but he should still live. They weren't high enough up where the collision would feel like hitting solid ground. He would be a bit beat up, but with his physical build, he should have been alright.

Sam didn't have time to think about anything else as the plane quickly continued to drop down. Within seconds the plane crashed onto the surface as water came crashing inside the plane.  
Mikey leaped over to protect Sam, but he was a split second too late. He was still able to engulf Sam in his arms, but only a second after the water violently swarmed through the inside of the plane. The water gushed in rapidly, and before Mikey could get to Sam, the water shoved her backwards as her head smacked the wall of the plane.  
Although Mikey was able to grab onto Sam and close his arms around her, the river began to rapidly suck the plane further and further down into the depths below, proving the river was much deeper than it appeared to be from a higher surface. The momentum of the plane being sucked downward ripped the turtles from where they had been standing and threw them all around the inside of the plane. Luckily, they were turtles, meaning they could breathe underwater for a relatively long time, and this made maneuvering their way through the debris pretty easy once they were out from the plane itself.

Leo was the first to return to the surface as he leaned onto a large broken piece from the plane.  
"Everyone okay?" he called out.  
Mikey was then the next to return to the surface. He swam over to a flattened rectangular box where he could lay Sam down on her back. Sam was coughing like crazy, but she still managed to give a thumbs up as she lay back down on her back.  
Mikey sighed in relief.  
"We're good!" he announced to his oldest brother.  
As Mikey then swam over to a nearby floating tire, Donnie then popped up and leaned on the box that Sam was laying on.  
"I'm good!" he called out. He quickly scanned the area in case anyone had any injuries, and in doing so, he realized they were down a brother.  
"Wait, where's Raph?" he called out.  
"Fell about *cough* a minute or so ago. Not much debris around *cough cough* so he should be fine" Sam said, sitting up some at first and then collapsing back onto her back once she got her message out.

Just then, Leo spotted Bebop on a large floating engine piece as he made his way down the river. Both mutants spotted the device further down the river and they both made their move. Bebop belly flopped into the water so that he could move quicker down the river towards the piece, while Leo pushed his floating piece from the plane away as he attempted to swim down the raging rapids.  
Donnie quickly stood up onto the box carefully and scooped Sam up in his arms. At this time their floating spot was closest to the shore, so he quickly leaped onto some other floating debris and made his way to dry land. He laid Sam down on the ground in a spot where he felt she would be safe.  
Sam began to stand up.  
"No!" Donnie yelled back to her.  
Sam looked up at him in surprised confusion. She had not been expecting such a harsh reaction from the turtle.  
"You've saved us multiple times already Sam. You've pushed your powers further than ever today. Stay here and stay safe! I mean it!"  
Donnie then spotted a different floating box that was closing in on the portal device. He dashed  
across the debris until he landed on that box.  
Sam would have chased after him…if her coughing weren't getting the best of her. She still wanted to be close by in case she was needed, so she carefully jogged along the shore, hiding behind the trees as she watched everything that was happening.  
Sam was the only one that saw Leo duck under a branch and swim under water towards the device while Donnie was rowing his way closer above the water.  
Leo burst upwards through the water, but he collided with Donnie. The two bumped into each other and because of this they both lost their handling of the device.  
"Leo no!" Donnie shouted in frustration.  
"I saw it Donnie!" Leo barked back.  
" _Man, I could have warned one of them about the other. I need to get back out there!_ " Sam thought to herself.  
She continued to watch as Bebop grabbed onto the device and then pulled himself up onto a large flat piece that had broken from the plane. Of course Leo was only two seconds behind as he leaped up onto the surface and then completed two spin kicks. The first launched the device out of Bebop's hands and high up into the air. The second launched the device backwards away from where both of them were standing as the device landed in the water between Donnie and Mikey.  
Sam's anticipation was cut off as she heard a familiar voice.  
"Sam!"  
Sam turned around to see Raph running up behind her.  
"Get down!" he yelled.  
Sam did as she was told as Raph ducked down next to her. She soon saw why he instructed to her to get low as they both watched the tank floating by quickly along the river.  
Sam knew where the turtles were since she had been by their side on the surface.  
"The guys are right in that thing's direction. You have to hurry." She quickly looked around her.  
"Go up this incline right here, it leads up ahead quicker than down here" she commanded.  
Raph nodded and did as he was told, and he was grateful for Sam's input. Because he had taken this small incline, he had reached his brothers just in time before the tank appeared. Mikey and Donnie hadn't seen the tank because it had fallen underwater due to the force from going through the rapids. It was like it disappeared for a few seconds and then reappeared right behind them out of thin air. The movement from the tank rising up pushed Mikey's raft up high enough and to the side that Mikey was in the clear, but Donnie was now standing on his box right in the direct spot of where the bullet would fly. He wanted to move, but the uprising of the tanks had caused violent waves that shook the box Donnie was standing on, making it difficult to maintain his balance. Raph dashed over and leapt high and far enough that he was able to grab onto Donnie's shoulder and move him far enough in time that the bullet just missed piercing through Donatello.

Sam sighed out in relief as she saw Raph, Donnie, and Mikey bob back up in the water. They had lost control of grabbing onto the device, but at least they were safe now. Sam continued to creep along the shoreline as she hid behind the trees while watching the fight continue on. She spotted the purple device in its clear box as it now floated straight back to where Bebop and Leo were fighting. Of course, Bebop was the one who had grabbed onto the device in the middle of the fight.  
"I should be out there" Sam muttered angrily under her breath while she hid, "I could have helped prevent that from happening."  
The bullet from the tank then crashed into a large tree right over top of Leo and Bebop. As soon as the pig got his hands on the box, Leo tried to yank the device away. Unfortunately Bebop had the better stance and was able to remove the device from Leo's grasp right before he used it to knock Leo off the floating piece from the plane. Leo landed safely in the water, but just like his brothers, he was now nowhere close to reaching and retrieving the piece needed for opening the portal. To make matters worse, the tree that had been hit now fell over onto the spot where Leo had been standing. This then launched Bebop back towards the tank where Rocksteady grabbed onto him and pulled him up so that they both were high and dry.

Sam groaned as she then watched the tank come to a halt as it was stopped by some larger rocks. This wouldn't be such a big deal, you know, if her friends weren't floating further away down the river.  
"Hehe, bye turtles!" Bebop shouted.  
"Heads up!" Rocksteady shouted as he pointed behind them.  
Sam turned towards the turtles as her face now unintentionally matched theirs.  
None of them had realized that the turtles were now about to fall down an extremely large drop from an incredibly tall waterfall.  
Sam began to shake in fear as she watched her brothers as they inched closer and closer towards the dangerous drop.  
Sam wanted to just assume they would be safe. They were turtles after all, so they could swim and even hide in their shells if need be…but what if there was more than just the water fall?  
What if there were sharp rocks at the bottom of the drop? What if the fall was so high that it was the equivalent of jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge? What if they all fell unconscious during the fall and drowned? They could swim underwater for a very long time (based on what Donatello had told her) but even he had confirmed that they could only swim underwater without any air for so many hours. What if they drowned before they woke back up to get more air?

The more dreadful questions Sam asked herself, the angrier she got. She didn't realize it, but she was running. She also didn't realize that the turtles could still see her as she now ran up a small incline and then leaped down towards Bebop. She would never know the terror that filled all four turtles as they watched Sam punch Bebop right in the jaw and then spin and kick Rocksteady in the gut, knocking them both over as they fell into the water along with the device.  
The four turtles knew that she was using her powers too much at one time, and that she was straining herself in the way she had been using her powers in the last hour than she had ever used them before. They knew this, but Sam did not. She was so absorbed in attacking the two men who possibly just stole her brothers from her that she didn't even hear them screaming her name as they all fell down the waterfall until it was too late.  
She turned and her heart sunk as she watched the four turtles disappear down the falls. The sounds of Bebop and Rocksteady climbing back up onto the tank brought her back to her current situation as she realized she needed to retrieve that device for the portal. She may not have been able to save her family, but she would do everything she could to avenge them and honor them by completing their mission and keeping the city safe.  
Sam used her still relatively new power of using her wind strength to pull the device from the water and back towards her. As soon as the device touched her fingertips she turned her body, jumped back onto dry land, and ran. As soon as her feet hit the grass, she began to wobble a bit.  
 _"Oh no, not now!"_ she thought to herself. She couldn't have another blackout here. Luckily she had just felt dizzy for a literal second and now she was running into the forest, but she was terrified of what was to come. She had a strong hunch that if she used her powers anymore that she would officially black out again, but now was a moment where she needed them more than ever.  
"Awwww no Beebs! Where'd she go?!"  
"I see bushes moving that way!"  
 _"Shit!"_ Sam was actually beginning to panic now. She had faced tough humans with her natural strength, and she had fought mutants with her powers, but facing two gigantic mutants with just her own muscle and no one else to help her, that was suicide. She didn't know what else to do, so she just kept running. What was worse, if they were anything like the Mutanimals, then they had a keen sense of smell. This meant that hiding wasn't an option, so her literal only option was to run as far as her legs would allow her to go. Her speed and stamina were the only things she had to work with at this point, so she would cut and start running in different directions, she would leap over and duck under different pieces of the terrain, she was doing whatever she could to make the mutants run tougher than it would be for her. This worked at times, and she could tell because the footsteps behind her would become fainter, but within minutes later they would return. Loud and noisy footsteps closed in on her many times. She had to have been running for at least an hour now. She felt like she had been running in circles and honestly she had no clue where she was, she just knew she needed to survive.

That's when the worst thing of all happened. She didn't black out, but her body tensed up. It was like she had been shot with a tranquilizer, but she checked her body and there was nothing there. Her vision blackened some, but it came back. Taking a wild guess, she assumed that overusing her powers and then pushing her body through such strenuous conditions had forced her body to just shut down. Because she hadn't used her powers in over an hour, she did not blackout, but she lost all control of her movements. Her body continued to move on the inside (her organs working and functioning) but the outside of her body froze and she collapsed to the ground.  
She tried crawling under some nearby brush, but it was too late.  
Bebop and Rocksteady, huffing and puffing, walked over and looked down upon the girl who was lying face first in the dirt.  
"WHOO! Man I never thought you were gonna stop!" Rocksteady announced.  
Bebop wiped the sweat from his head.  
"You're one tough cookie girly, but nothing that we can't crack" Bebop said with a wicked tone to his laughing voice.  
"Heh, let's crack her alright" the rhino said, cracking his knuckles.  
"WHOA! DUDE!" Bebop shouted, pushing his friends shoulder. "What's the matter with you Rock? You know we don't kill women! And we ESPECIALLY don't harm them if they can't fight back!"  
Rocksteady looked down at the ground, ashamed of his comments.  
"I'm so sorry man, I just keep getting carried away today."  
"Hey, it's okay buddy. We've had a rough first day, stresses you out ya know?" the warthog said as he comforted and cheered up his friend.  
"So, what do we do with her?"  
"Hmmmmmm" the pig thought out loud, "well we can't kill her cause that would go against our morals…" His face then lit up and a devious expression covered his face.  
"I guess we'll just let fate decide what happens to her."

Bebop carried the device as Rocksteady grabbed Sam's legs and dragged her back to the river. Sam hadn't realized how close she been to the shoreline as she came to the end of her long run, but she hoped she was much further back than earlier that evening. Her hopes seemed to have been fulfilled since she didn't see any familiar scenery when the mutants brought her back to the river.  
Bebop found a log and dropped it in the water, and the Rocksteady placed Sam on top of the log. It was heavy enough to carry her, but her bodyweight made the log sink down just a tad bit. Because of this, water rushed against the sides of Sam's head. The water filled her ears and made it so that she couldn't hear anything. She had no idea what the two mutants were laughing at, but she assumed their laughter was aimed at the blank expression on her face. She would never reveal any emotion to them that they had won, but apparently they found all this funny anyway.

Sam watched the mutant's wave goodbye as they kicked the log off the ground so that it now floated away down the river. Sam's back was laying on the log which meant that she could not look in any direction but up towards the sky. She sighed, wondering if this was the end for her. She definitely never would have expected THIS to be the way she died, but she knew there was nothing she could do to avoid it. She felt tears begin to prick her eyes but she quickly blinked them away. She felt that crying would signal defeat, and she would never admit defeat, even in death she would go out like an honorable warrior.  
She kept waiting and waiting for her body to gain control of itself once again, but this never happened. She guessed she had been floating for about 20 minutes now and she knew she couldn't have run that far away from her original starting point since she kept circling around and running through past different areas where the trees would get in the mutants way or where the ground went uphill and downhill, different things that would make their run much more difficult than hers. Knowing this, she just kept waiting to reach the waterfall. Knowing these were her last moments, she tried convincing herself that the deadly fall would be more like a steep drop on a roller coaster. She then started imagining what it would be like to go on a roller coaster with the turtles. It amused her to think of the muscular turtles trying to fit into the harnesses of a roller coaster when they struggled just to get their harnesses set up for laser tag. And then the worst thought hit her: she would never see her brothers again. She sighed, long and slow. This was really it. She closed her eyes, hoping that if her eyes were to stay closed forever then at least she would end seeing happy thoughts as she replayed some of her happiest moments with her new family.

She was so wrapped up in these more peaceful thoughts (in hopes of leading to a more peaceful ending) that she hadn't realized she was no longer moving down the river. It wasn't until she felt small waves rise up and over her while she lay on the log that she felt the need to open her eyes. Seconds later, two tech covered arms were picking her up and carrying her towards 3 more sets of arms that helped pull the tech arms and herself back to dry land.  
She was fighting so hard not to cry at how relieved she was. It was still hard for her to hear anything because of how much water was now clogging her ears, but right now she was pretty sure that she didn't want to hear what was being said anyway.  
The water finally settled, and she honestly didn't know what to make of the first sounds she heard, since the first sounds were multiple yells and shouts from the four brothers in front of her.  
"Sam can you hear me?" Donnie kept announcing.  
"I knew this would happen! I told you we should have let her stay home!" shouted Leo.  
"Dude are you serious right now? Like, how does that help?! " argued Mikey.  
"It's not that she's here, it's that she can't listen! She knew that if she was that weak then she needed to lay low!" bellowed Raph.  
"We shouldn't have left her alone!" countered Mikey.  
"Oh so I was supposed to drag her around like a doll?! She was weak Mikey and she needed to lay low! Do you even hear yourself?!" shouted Donnie.  
"Her life wouldn't have been at risk if she stayed home!" Leo yelled.  
"Stop targeting me like I planned this Leo!" Donnie shouted back.

"I'm sorry" Sam mumbled.  
That fast all the shouting and arguing came to a halt.  
"What happened?"  
"What hurts?"  
"What did they do to you?"  
"Where did you go?"  
Each brother asked their own question, over and over again, panic now flooding through their veins.  
"I ran…then I couldn't move…" were the only words that came out of Sam's mouth.  
"What the hell were you thinking?" Leo asked in a dark and pained tone.  
Sam felt her stomach twisting from her guilt.  
"I…wanted to help-"  
"And you thought killing yourself would be helpful?" Leo bit back,  
"Dude" Mikey said, nudging his brother, "back off."  
"He's right" Raph stated, glaring at Mikey. "She made a stupid decision."  
Leo then started glaring at Sam, though she could only see this in her peripheral vision as she continued to stare at the ground.  
"No 'help' is worth it if it means losing you in the process. I thought you had learned that by now. Especially if you're here on missions like this."  
Sam felt the glares from Leo and Raph. She was terrified to say anything, not that anything could justify her actions anyway.  
"Let's go" Leo said in a low and furry filled tone.  
The turtles stood up and waited for Sam to follow, only for her to continue sitting back and leaning on the tree they had her propped up against.  
"Sam?" Donnie asked.  
She continued to look at the ground as she spoke.  
"I still can't move" she said just loud enough for the group to comprehend what she said.  
Leo and Raph both clenched their fists as they stormed off. They would help carry Sam, but they both knew they would unintentionally carry her in a rather rough manner because of how pissed they were. They also knew Mikey would be more than happy to carry Sam back. No matter how pissed he was, they knew he would always be gentle with her no matter what. The group trudged through the forest as Donnie figured out where they needed to go to board a cargo plane back to New York.

It was going to be a long plane ride home.

 **So, was Sam in the right or wrong to act out and keep using her powers even when she knew she shouldn't? And do you think she has been in control when using these powers, or are her powers controlling her?  
And wow, when you go back and watch these scenes over and over again, there is so much you realize you had never noticed before! Like I've watched this movie many, many times, but when I watch on my laptop and can rewind the same short scenes over and over again, there is so much you never realized was there. I tried to incorporate as much of that as I could into this chapter, especially so that it made everything make sense and come together smoothly. **

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #39

 **Sunday June 7** **th** **, about 3:00p.m. Still in Venezuela, about to depart back to New York**

It took Donnie about 20 minutes to track a route that lead to an airport where the group could secretly board another cargo plane. It was the sketchiest thing the group had ever done since they were basically traveling and boarding the plane in broad daylight. They found some tarp and covered themselves as Donnie, being the quickest, ran over to an abandoned cart the workers drove to transport extra luggage to the plane. The group boarded the cart under the tarp as Donnie quickly drove towards a plane he knew was leaving for New York (he knew this by hacking into the airports computer system and tracked which planes were leaving for where and when). Mikey continued to carry a paralyzed Sam, though she was slowly gaining back her ability to move, but it was extremely slow.  
It wasn't until 2 hours after the plane took off, about 5p.m. when Sam could officially move again. She thought this would be a reason for the boys to be happy, but this actually ended up causing more tension. Once she was able to move again the four brothers began arguing with one another, each brother blaming the other for something they did wrong during the mission whether it be something general or something in regards to Sam's safety.  
The arguing went on for what seemed like forever. It was now 7:30p.m. and the brothers were still arguing with each other. They were all so focused on their harsh words towards one another that no one had picked up on how weak Sam had become despite gaining back her ability to move.

"You think standing on the sidelines makes you some kind of hero?" Raph bellowed towards his youngest brother as they stood towards the further back section of the crowded plane.  
Sam had walked over and was about to lean on Raph's arm because of how weak she felt, only for him to walk away right before she did so. He was so furious with his youngest brother that he didn't even notice how weak his female friend looked as she stumbled and managed to catch her balance as she awkwardly leaned on the wall.  
"You can't just push past me like that bro!"  
"You were being a nitwit! You were gonna lose that thing!"  
"I wasn't!"  
"Yes you were!"  
"No I WASN'T!"  
The two continued to yell back and forth at each other, getting closer and closer as they both moved their arms and hands to convey just how upset they were with the others words. The only thing that got the two to stop was when they heard Donnie shouting even louder than they were.  
"I had it in my hand! I had it right in my hand and you acted as if I wasn't even there!" he shouted at his oldest brother who was sitting ahead of him. Just like his other brothers, Donnie was very physical as he verbally announced his frustration. And then just like him, Leo communicated the same way.  
Leo shook his head as he spoke.  
"It's not my job to make your presence known, alright? Get out of your head and communicate" Leo announced roughly to his brother, punching his fist in his hand as a sign of how frustrating it was for him that Donnie acted the way his brain told him to but without letting the others know what exactly he was doing (in this case, specifically telling Leo what it was he was doing before the two collided in the water).  
Donnie rolled his eyes and walked away and sat down as he crossed his arms across his chest. He was so annoyed with his older brother's words that he didn't notice that Sam had slowly made her way over towards where he was standing and went to lean on his shoulder before he moved away. Sam stumbled down onto the box below her, but landed so that it looked like she had meant for the landing to be so clumsy. Leo was so annoyed that he didn't notice how weak Sam looked and also overlooked her clumsy seating.  
Raph huffed from the back.  
"Well what do you expect? He's all logic and no skills."  
Mikey scowled at his red bearing brother.  
"Coming from the guys who's all instinct and no restraint" he said, swinging his arms in front of him to diss his brother.  
Leo waved his arm as he stood up and stormed past Mikey.  
"What do you know about anything? You're all heart and no brains!"  
Sam had been walking over towards Leo, but he had already stood up and stormed off towards the other side of the plane (attempting to sit away from his brothers but failing because of how tightly packed this plane was compared to the other). Sam just stood there. Her back was to the guys so none of them noticed, but her eyes began to close. She wasn't blacking out because of her powers, but because her body had just pushed itself to great limits that day in general. She was about to fall backwards when Mikey caught her. He was the only one who had noticed her stumbles and as he held Sam now he carefully pulled her with him so that she was sitting next to him. He put his arm around her and nestled her in so that her head was resting on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, the rest of the brothers were still arguing.  
"How could you?" Donnie asked in a gasp. "You may know a lot about strategy but you know nothing about feelings."  
Raph scoffed as he turned around.  
Leo bit his lip before turning to face the rest of his brothers.  
"Fair enough. You wanna know what I'm feeling?" he asked as he turned so that each brother met his gaze at least once, "we may be brothers, but we are NOT a team."  
Mikey rolled his eyes and then looked back down at Sam.  
"Whatever man. If you're gonna insult us some more then at least keep your voice down. Sam's trying to sleep" Mikey bit back in a low voice.  
This caught Donnie's attention and he darted his gaze towards the girl leaning on his brother.  
"She's not sleeping Mikey she passed out. Sam!"  
Donnie said as he quickly walked over and kneeled down in front of the duo, snapping his fingers in hopes that Sam really was just sleeping and that he was being paranoid.  
Leo's glare had softened into a concerned gaze as he watched Donnie start checking for Sam's pulse and pull out his flashlight to check her eyes.  
Raph, who had been angrily pacing in the back, now stood completely still as he also watched his brother look after Sam.  
Donnie moved back and sighed as he clicked the mini flashlight off.  
"I don't think she has a concussion or head trauma or anything serious like that. Her body's probably just so exhausted it clocked out on her."  
"She shouldn't have been part of this" Leo and Raph oddly said at the exact same time.  
Donnie was extremely upset at hearing this, and he could tell that Mikey felt the same way based on the glare he had aimed at the floor in front of him.  
"We're dropping this now" Donnie said in a cold tone. His voice wasn't high, but it wasn't a whisper. The neutral tone told the oldest two that now was not the time to share their complaints, and the fact that Donatello had switched from pouting to this bitter tone signaled how upset he truly was.

After this, the rest of the plane ride had been quiet. This was mainly because the boys were all furious with each other and were trying to remain calm after literally arguing for over a couple hours, but it was also because they were waiting for Sam to show signs that she was okay and wake up. It was mere minutes to 9:00 when the plane would be landing when Sam finally woke back up. She stirred slowly and was shocked to see the boys sitting silently and still like statues. This, plus Michelangelo's soft and kind expression when she woke up, made her think that the storm of hateful words had passed. Little did she know, what happened earlier was just a short preview of what was to come later on.

After the plane landed, the group caught a break to dash to their truck's hiding spot. They finally arrived back at the lair at about 9:40p.m. This was where the real "fun" began. Sam was feeling rejuvenated as she traveled back to the lair with the guys, but the voice she heard made her sick to her stomach from nerves.  
As the group made their way into the central part of the lair, sitting on the couch drinking tea with Splinter was Jay.  
As soon as the two sets of human eyes connected, the tea cup was set down and Jay was fuming as he rushed over to his sister.  
"Where THE HELL have you been!? Oh sorry Sensei" Jay said as he quickly bowed to the wise rat.  
"At ease my child" Splinter said with a kind smile. "I'll let you handle this amongst my sons. I'm going to go to meditate" he stated as he walked towards his room. He wanted to allow this time for Jay to complete his "parenting" on his own.  
"What's going on?" Leo asked in confusion since Sam had stated she called Jay and let him know what she was doing.  
"Sam where's your phone?" Jay asked sternly.  
"Uhhhh-it's in this backpack" she said, pointing to the bag on her back, "it's dead though-"  
"WHY?!"  
"Because I used the chargers for Donnie's machines."  
She turned to see Donatello staring wide-eyed at her, not happy with this answer.  
Jay covered his mouth with both of his hands and closed his eyes as he sighed.  
"Do you have any idea how many times I called you?"  
"Well I just said-"  
"11 TIMES. 11 times Sam. I've been calling you for hours. What the hell is this about breaking into police headquarters? A-and-and flying to Brazil?! What the hell have you been up to?! Where have you been?!"  
"Oh you gotta be kidding me" Raph scoffed out loud as he turned wide-eyed towards Sam (all his brothers looked at Sam this way now).  
Sam gulped.  
"Oh now you're worried huh?!" Jay shouted in frustrated excitement. "Tell them Sam. I want you to tell them right now."  
Sam looked down at her feet as she talked.  
"So, I did call Jay and I told him about what I was doing…over voicemail" she said, muttering the last part.  
"OH MY GOD"  
"WOOOOOOOW"  
The four turtles were saying one or the other of these two phrases as they all threw their hands up in the air.  
"Sam" Jay said softly.  
"Yes?" Sam muttered.  
"You're grounded."  
Sam groaned.  
"For two weeks."  
"What?!"  
"Absolutely no friend contact. That means no sports, no dance, and definitely no lair" Jay said as he violently shook his head.  
"Well that's unfair because that's just punishing these guys" Sam said in a cocky tone. She assumed at least Mikey would back her up, but this did not happen.  
"We're cool with it" he said calmly as he shrugged his shoulders.  
"Dude?!" Sam said as she glared at her best friend.  
This set the turtle off.  
"You LIED to us Sam! You lied to me! Straight to my face!" Mikey began shouting as he jabbed his finger between himself and the girl in front of him.  
"I called Jay-"  
"And it went to voicemail! Which he didn't get until after we left! You never told us that and you know the deal!"  
"Oh you mean the baby deal that I don't get a say in?"  
"Are you serious right now? Do you hear yourself?" Raph roughly cut in. "Are you seriously getting upset because people care about you?"  
"Let her act that way" Leo cut in, "She's staying back next time, regardless of what anyone else says."  
This last comment was aimed towards Donnie who had gone against Leo's orders in having Sam stay back in the first place, and like the genius he was, Donnie picked up on this instantly.  
He slammed his hand down on the table.  
"You wanna play this game? Alright, tell us how you really feel Leo. Since you're so perfect and can't mess anything up. LET'S GO!"  
"You said she could help and then you totally took advantage of her" Leo bit back.  
"HOW?!"  
"You kept making her do things that pushed her over her limits. Like why the hell was she under the plane?"  
"To help push it up!" Donatello acted out his actions as he spoke. "To keep it in the air! To prevent us from dying! And she did a freaking awesome job hence us still being alive!"

At this point Jay was sitting back and watching the brothers argue. He wanted Sam to see how much turmoil the brothers were in because of her decisions, but he was also curious as to where this argument was heading and what would be revealed.  
"So what, you couldn't solve the problem on your own?" Leo barked at his brother.  
"Are you seriously blaming me for not finding a way to stop gravity? Then again, I'm nothing but brains and no skill" Donnie said as he glared at Raph before glaring back at Leo, "so I guess I'm supposed to just alter how all physics works. Because that's all I'm good for, right?"  
"Dudes cut it out!" Mikey shouted. "Sam was fine when she helped with the plane. The real problem was her 3 blackouts."  
"Dude you don't have the right to say anything since you didn't help anyone ever" Raph said as he pushed Mikey to the side. "And those blackouts never would have occurred if we hadn't jumped out of a plane" he said, again, using his words to jab at Donatello.  
"Well if you would have jumped when I said to then Sam wouldn't have had to save your wimpy ass!" Donnie barked back. "And if you hate my plan so much then complain to Leo! He's our perfect leader so next time let him make every decision! I mean his is the only one that counts, right?"  
"I'm the leader! I figure out strategies and decide who's intel works best and when-"  
"TOTAL BULL!" Mikey shouted. "You do what you want, whenever it pops into your head! You can't call Donnie out on not communicating when you're the exact same way! You think of one strategy and then boom-bye Leo! See you later!"  
"At least I move and do something! Every time I looked back you were goofing around! You couldn't even hold onto the device for 2 seconds before it popped out of your hands" Leo scolded.  
"That's no fair! We were all being thrown around!"  
"Well you need to learn to defend yourself you dork!" Raph shouted. "You're such a dimwit you couldn't even warn me that a box was heading my way before I almost fell out of the plane."  
"I was looking for Sam!"  
"Great, so now we have to worry about you being distracted worrying about her" Raph said with an annoyed laugh.  
"Well you should be able to worry about yourself" Donnie snapped at Raph. "You should be on alert mode regardless of who's around you."  
"Not the point! Mikey shouldn't have needed to worry about Sam being in danger in the first place! That's why next time she's staying home!" Leo bellowed.  
"Cut the bull!" Mikey "we need her-"  
"What we need is to keep her safe, which you failed at doing when you let her head smash against the wall-"  
"Oh and you did such a great job keeping her safe when you and Raph landed on her and crashed into the floor! Yeah I saw that!"  
"Well then that's even more reason that she shouldn't have been there. If we can't even take care of ourselves and we're the ones hurting Sam-"  
"Ummmm no!" Donnie cut in, "Mikey and I brought Sam to safety at the rapids, you're the one who went off on your own without a word!"  
"Because it's not my job to babysit Sam when we push her so far that she passes out!"  
"We're a team!" Mikey bellowed, "we all help each other out!"  
"Oh yeah because you totally helped Mikey! What exactly did you do again? Besides sit back and goof off I mean" Raph snarled. "Sam was weak as hell and she did more than you! She was on the sidelines and still helped me reach Donnie in time to protect him. You were next to him and didn't do shit!"  
"What I'm hearing is that for a 5th time Sam saved one or all of us" Donnie said in a matter-of-fact tone.  
"And that she was safe on the sidelines!" Mikey chipped in.  
"Yeah, until she made the decision to throw herself into danger!" Raph barked back.  
"So what I'm hearing is that we can't trust Sam" Leo said, mimicking Donnie's tone as he stared at him.  
"WHAT?!" Donnie and Mikey hollered.  
"She was in a safe spot and then purposefully went over her already shortened limit and put herself in danger by attacking and gaining the attention of Bebop and Rocksteady! If she can't fight then she should be in hiding, and if she can't voluntarily hide and protect herself then we leave her home!" Leo argued.  
"How can you not see that Sam easily could have died?!" Raph added in furry.  
"How do you not see that without her we all could have died?!" Mikey fought back.  
"It has nothing to do with her, it's about us!" Donnie added to the argument. "We don't communicate and then it leads to chaos. You know, Sam and I talked before she saved Mikey, we talked before she kept the plane in the air, and she talked to Raph before he saved me!"  
"Great" Leo said as sarcastically as possible, "so that means we're a team that can't communicate with each other which results in us taking advantage of our most vulnerable member, and we make her do everything else for us because we can't work together and take care of ourselves."  
"How are we supposed to protect her when we can't even take care of ourselves?" Raph asked in disappointment.  
Leo waved his arm in front of him. "Add that to the list of reasons why next time she's not-"  
"ENOUGH!"

Sam's eyes lit up and huge wind gusts flew from her body. Jay was grateful that Raph was so close to him as he lunged and held onto Jay before the winds flew him back against the wall. The other brothers stood their ground as best as they could until the winds died down. None of them, not even Jay (being so caught up in the brothers argument), had realized that Sam was losing her cool as she heard the brother's arguing about her. She was hurt for so many reasons. She hated to see them arguing like this in general, but knowing that she was a main cause for it hurt her even more. She hated herself for not being able to help out more, she hated that she knew little to nothing about her powers, she hated that the brothers were blaming each other for not keeping her safe, and she loathed that she had no self-control in her body attacking Bebop and Rocksteady. And she knew that admitting this would just make matters worse, but for now the only thing on her mind was getting the guys to stop arguing the way they were.

"YOU!" she shouted as she stared at Leo, who in return was staring at her with a shocked expression. He definitely was not expecting this outburst, though he felt that at this point he shouldn't be so surprised.  
"Stop blaming Donnie like he scripted for everything to go the way it did! You're lucky he formed any plan where the plane didn't fall right out of the sky. I didn't see anyone else up there trying to fix it. And last time I checked you didn't communicate and say what you were doing when you went for the device in the water either! And if you EVER tell Mikey he has no brains again I will literally kick your ass!"  
"And YOU!" she shouted as she now turned and faced towards Raph, "Stop hating on your younger brothers! At least they have faith in me that I can help, which I DID SAVE YOUR ASS! So stop acting like I'm just a nuisance! Same with you!" she said, pointing back to Leo before she continued to verbally attack Raph. "And I'll kick your ass if you ever tell Donnie he has no skill ever again! HE'S SENSITIVE!"  
"And YOU!" she said as she now faced Donatello, "Leo didn't communicate in the water but neither did you! Yeah that's what happens when you bench me, I see everything! So no you didn't have it right in your hand, you didn't even touch it! Technically he did, you both were close but you idiots don't talk! Maybe if you guys would try to understand each other rather than just yell at each other than you would know how he really feels. The reason he's a total ass to all of you is because he cares!"  
"And you" Sam said in a low bitter tone towards Michelangelo, (in fact, this low tone sounded more pissed than the way she yelled at the others) "First of all, I'm flattered you worry about me, but you still have to worry about these dorks!" she said, rapidly pointing to the other three brothers. "Thank god Raph was okay, but worse things could have happened if he had fallen from the plane at a higher level, so pay better attention! And THANKS for having my back in regards to me being grounded. Like, okay yeah I know I broke the rules, but this was to retrieve ooze from the police so that it was held somewhere safe and couldn't harm people, and then Brazil was to retrieve a device so that we could PROTECT. THE. WORLD! I mean hey" she said in a sarcastic comical tone "I thought saving the world came first over calling my brother and getting permission, but obviously my thoughts don't matter. As long as I'm following the rules, right?"  
All the brothers, mutant and human, looked down or away from Sam. They agreed with her words and they all realized that had been harsh towards both her and the other brothers.  
Sam's verbal rampage was not over just yet though.  
"And hey" she announced as she faced all four mutant brothers, "if you have a problem with me, how about telling me about it instead of arguing about it while I'm standing right here. Oh, or would you rather me just sit on the sidelines and listen to you verbally attack each other and me not help? Because god forbid I get my feelings hurt or something. Or god forbid my powers take over again and try to keep you guys safe! Because that's freaking horrible!"

At that very moment, something clicked in Donnie's mind.  
"Sam"  
"WHAT?!" she shouted, obviously not ready to end her rant just yet.  
"What's going through your mind right now?" Donnie asked cautiously.  
"I just said it! Like, I literally just said a lot! Be more specific."  
"What are you most angry about right now, at this very moment. Of everything you just said, what upsets you the most?" he asked calmly, even though his friend was shouting at him.  
"Gee I don't know. Maybe the fact that you're all arguing because I couldn't control myself" she replied sourly, "I mean forgive me for thinking you guys could die and me just reacting without even realizing what I was doing" she said, waving her arms in front of her, moving with the anger inside her.  
Her words however now caught all the turtles attention.  
"Wait, what?" Leo asked. "When were we gonna die?"  
"When you went over the waterfall."  
"But, we're turtles" Leo stated, confused at what had concerned his friend so much that she went ballistic and threw herself in danger afterwards.  
"Yeah but you didn't know how high it was, or what was at the drop, you didn't know if you'd be safe or not."  
Wheels were spinning in Donnie's head as he walked forward and grabbed Sam's hand.  
"Come with me, right now." He needed to get her to the med wing right away and test to see if his theory was correct.  
"Not yet!" Sam yelled as she pulled away, "I'm not done bitching!"  
Donnie then grabbed her other arm and basically starting pulling Sam, like he was dragging a child who didn't want to leave the park.  
"Perfect" he replied, "keep talking as we walk."  
This got Sam to stop and she finally started walking with him towards the med wing outside the lair.  
Leo and Raph exchanged glances for a split second and then chased after their brother, with Jay and Mikey right on their tail.

They entered the med wing to see Donnie sitting and typing away on a computer while Sam had a helmet with some patches hooked up to her head.  
The remaining four boys just stood and listened outside the doorway, watching to see what exactly was happening and what Donnie was thinking.  
"When was the last time your powers took over?" Donnie asked as he paused his typing.  
"Ummmm, I wanna say police headquarters."  
"Why?"  
"…I don't wanna say" Sam mumbled, a bit embarrassed.  
"Tell him or its three weeks" Jay stated.  
Sam groaned. "I was pissed."  
"Why?" Donnie asked gently.  
"Because they called you monsters. That upset Mikey, and then that upset me. And then I thought how the rest of you were feeling, both how you guys actually felt and then how you were probably also pissed because that guy upset Mikey. The next thing I knew, Raph was carrying me out of headquarters and you guys were checking on me."  
Sam's eyes were now glued to the floor. Because of this, she didn't see the concern on the faces of the brothers in the doorway. Donnie would have had the exact same expression on his face, but right now he was masking these thoughts as he typed away on his computer.  
"Okay, when did they go off before that?"  
"Uhhhhh, oh, when Leo benched Raph and Mikey."  
Brows rose when they heard this.  
"When was this?" Donnie asked. He didn't remember hearing about this.  
"I felt them kicking in when Leo said his opinion was the only one that mattered. It was weird, like I could actually sense my powers kicking in and I was able to control them. But then they started getting stronger. It was the first time I actually felt them rising up before they took over."  
"You said an enemy was attacking" Raph added softly.  
Sam looked over at the group in the door way and stared at Raphael, her eyes stating that she wanted him to keep talking.  
"You said an enemy was attacking, that he was hurting me and bringing chaos into the family. I said that it was just Leo being a prick" (to which Leo pursed his lips and looked away, starting to get a bit flustered at constantly being called names like this). "I told you I had no injuries and you went back to normal."  
"Wait, so what was the exact reason your powers starting going off?" Donnie asked.  
Sam paused, remembering the situation for herself.  
"Raph got hurt…in a sense. That's the last thing I remember."  
"When did they go off before that? Can you remember?"  
Sam took a minute to generate her answer.  
"When I met Casey. I sensed someone had attacked Sensei and I thought he was in danger. Then Leo was holding me and Mikey's hands were on my shoulders. Apparently I had tried to hurt Casey because he was the first unknown face I saw and I thought he was an enemy trying to hurt Splinter."  
"How far does this go?" Jay asked. "These all sound recent."  
"The last one I can remember is when Donnie shocked Mikey. At least that's what Raph told me had happened and apparently I snapped."  
Donnie's eyes went wide for a second since he had no clue what she was talking about.  
"When was this?" he asked.  
"In the jumbotron. April called and Mikey was being a dork and apparently you shocked him and then that set me off."  
"Do you remember why?"  
"Mikey got hurt" Sam said bluntly.  
At this point all the boys were beginning to sense a pattern.

"It's based on emotions" Leo stated. "Right?"  
A small printer in the corner was now printing out colorful photos. The pictures displayed a cranial figure representing Sam's brain and which parts were lit up during the conversation. There was only one main chunk where a huge area was lit up in the picture.  
"That's the temporal lobe" Donnie stated as he looked over the scans that were taken throughout the conversation. "We finally have an idea as to how your powers work."  
"Sooooooooo what's happening?" Mikey asked, having no idea what was going on.  
Donnie turned around to face the rest of the group.  
"The temporal lobe handles multiple tasks, including those involving memory and emotions. There's the hippocampus which deals with long term memory, there's the limbic system which carries out the experience of emotions, there's the amygdala which deals with memory, decision making, and emotional reactions, there's the locus coeruleus which deals with physiological responses to stress and panic, there's-"  
"Spit it out Donnie" Leo urged.  
"I always thought Sam was set off specifically based on what she saw and heard alone, but it's not just her senses, it's how she processes them."  
"So, it's every time she's upset?" Raph asked.  
"Not just upset, specifically when she feels someone she cares about is being harmed. Her powers have gone off…8 times."  
"What?!" Jay asked. "List them. Now!"  
"The first time was when she was with me in my lab. I burned myself and she literally demolished the device that caused the burn. The second time was when she caught Raph chasing Mikey. The third time was when she caught Leo and Raph arguing and butting heads. Fourth time was me shocking Mikey. Fifth time was when she thought Casey was hurting Splinter. Sixth time was when Leo yelled at Raph right before we left for the museum. Seventh time was at police headquarters. The eighth and final time was when she saw us heading for the waterfall. Each time she thought someone was in danger and she felt a need to protect them. Her powers could even be connecting to past memories of needing to protect us and it just takes over and goes Hulk until someone calms her down."  
"Wait, hold up" Raph cut in, "that all makes sense BUT why would she freak out when I chased Mikey? She's seen that AND me and Leo arguing tons of times, but she only went crazy once for each situation."  
"It was out of context" Leo cut in, his eyes wide as the wheels in his head began to turn as well.  
"Sam was meditating with me when you were chasing Mikey. She didn't know what caused the argument. We were literally leaving my room and you two ran by us. And then when we were arguing-"  
"She was with Donnie in the med wing. She's always there when the fights start, but those times she wasn't" Raph said, now truly understanding how all this worked.  
"Plus this explains why she never freaks out during trainings" Mikey said with wide eyes, officially catching on to what his brothers were getting at. "She sees us sparring and knows we're not in any danger."  
"Has this been a normal thing?!" Jay announced. "Why have I not known about this?!"  
All eyes were now on Sam who was twiddling her thumbs.  
"I was going to tell you…but it either slips my mind or its bad timing."  
"How is your life bad timing?" Jay asked, fuming the entire time.  
"Dude, you're getting married and have a job while also advocating for the Foot Survivors organization. You have a million things to worry about, I'm not going to make them worse!"

Hearing this, Leo and Raph had to leave the room. They both walked back to their designated rooms, knowing that if they continued to stay that they would just start arguing again like they had earlier. They wanted nothing more than to keep their sister safe, but they couldn't fathom Sam's thoughts of hiding information. Maybe later they could try to talk to her about it, but they both knew that now was not the best time.

Mikey sighed with a saddened expression on his face. He was also worrying about his sister and best friend's behaviors and mindset as of late. He sensed that now was a good time to let Sam and Jay talk, so he also walked back to his room.

Donnie wore the same expression as his younger brother. He felt the same way and decided to let the human siblings share their moment. This was the perfect spot for them to talk since it was not located inside the lair but was still nearby. He pat Sam on the shoulder as he walked out of the room.

That just left the human siblings to share their moment in peace.


	40. Chapter 40

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #40

 ***Sunday June 7** **th** **, 10:00p.m.***

Sam and Jay were still sitting in the med wing. Each of the brothers had gone back to their own rooms and were taking this time to calm themselves down, so the two human siblings were all alone to handle their own business.  
Jay slowly shook his head as he stared at his sister, who was staring down at the ground and fidgeting with her fingers.  
"I just…I don't get it" he said as if he was in pain.  
Sam slowly lifted her head up to look at her brother.  
"Just…we're all the family each of us has left Sam…I thought you knew better than to hide things from me like this…"  
The guilt Sam felt was making her stomach hurt. She crossed her arms across her abdomen and pressed inwards, trying to ease the pain from her emotions.  
"You just have so much going on, and there's still so much about me that none of us understands yet. I didn't want you to worry and be ripped away from all the important things in your life-"  
"You are the most important thing in my life!" Jay bellowed. "Cut whatever this shit is about not wanting to mess up my life! The number one thing that could mess up my life is losing you!"

He tried to calm himself as he put his hands behind his head as he took deep breaths. He didn't want to upset her and hurt her more, but how could she not see that she was the most important thing to her? He was her sister, the last of his true family since his childhood. He had literally watched her grow since the day she was born. Hell, he had helped change her diapers since he was 7 when she was born. She was the new baby and Mrs. Allan saw how much he wanted to help care for her, so he taught him the different ways to care for babies. He had gained so much experience in learning how to care for both Sam and Chuck because of the age difference between all of them. And now that he was her legal guardian, in many ways it felt like he had raised Sam from the beginning, how could she not see that?

"Sam…I've cared for you since the day you were born…why would you now suddenly think I wouldn't want to know where you go and what happens to you?" he asked calmly.  
Sam's eyes fell back to the floor.  
"I remember you taking care of me when I was little. I remember you helping cut my food when we went out to eat. You always remembered to pack my coloring book and my crayons in the diaper bag so that I was never bored when the adults talked. I'd be broke if I had to give a dollar every time you tied my shoes or zipped up my jacket. But…that was because you wanted to play the big brother role…now there is so much more for you. You're going to have a wife, and knowing you two you'll be having kids soon after. You have careers you actually enjoy and are dedicated towards. You have a life that you deserve to live, I don't want you to lose that because you have to worry about me and my abnormalities from the mutagen…"  
"Sam…the reason I'm able to continue living and enjoy all those great opportunities is because you survived. When I thought you had passed on with everyone else the night everything went to hell…"  
Jay tilted his head back and ran his hands down his face in order to wipe away the tears that were pricking his eyes,  
"I was going to take my own life that night."  
Sam looked up at him in shock.  
"What?"  
"Life wouldn't have been worth living if you had left me to. As soon as the paramedics said that one of my siblings had a chance to live and was rushed to the hospital, that was the last match that kept my soul burning to stay alive. Knowing that you still had a chance to make it through that night was the only thing that kept me going. So don't tell me you want me to focus on the things I have in my life when you literally are the reason I still have my own life to live."  
Sam was speechless and her brother could sense this.  
He gave her a small smile. "I never decided that I had to take care of you Sam, I've always wanted to. I chose to help care for you when we were kids, and I want to take care of you now. Heh, you could be married with kids and I will still find ways for me to take care of you-"  
That fast Sam cut her brother off as she rushed forward and gave him a hug.  
"I'm sorry…" she muttered. "I know you care, I'm sorry" she said as she squeezed tighter as she hugged him.  
Jay pulled her in tightly as well.  
"I know you care, and that's why you make these stupid decisions," he said as they both let out a short chuckle, "but you need to tell me things. You need to keep me updated about everything."  
Sam took a step back.  
"I should have waited for you to get back to me, and I know I was in the wrong for only leaving voice messages, but-"  
"I know" Jay said with a nod. "I want to be mad, and I want to yell at you for leaving the freaking country before I even knew it, but I also know you're not a normal human anymore."  
"Anymore?" Sam asked with a questioning smile. "When was I ever?"  
Now Jay was smiling as well. "That's fair. You know what I mean though."  
He held onto her hands as he stood up and looked down upon his younger sister.  
"But you can literally be a super hero now. I want to protect you and keep you in my sight at all times, but I know that's unreasonable to have that happen. I mean god, you were lifting planes, and you were keeping people from falling out of the sky. As incredible as the guys are, it's obvious that they needed you."  
As much as Sam loved to hear these words come from her brother's mouth, she could also sense his sorrow as he spoke.  
"Hey, it doesn't matter what I can do. If you want me to stay back then I stay back. You're the reason I ended up staying on this earth as well, and if you need me by your side then I'm here for you."  
Tears began to form in the man's eyes.  
"I wish I could tell you to do that, but I know there will be moments where the world will need you just as much as I do. Just…please be careful, okay?"  
Sam shot his a confused look.  
"Wait…does that mean?"  
"Yeah, no more asking permission to go save the world. But you need to update me on whatever happens. Like about these blackouts. Maybe I can work with some of the guys and we can find ways to test these new findings out. And then I can update Donnie and he can study our info as well. But you can't hide stuff like this from me anymore, okay?"  
Sam nodded and hugged her brother once again.  
"I understand. And thank you, I know that can't be easy for you to say all that."  
"Oh I know eventually I'm going to kick myself for allowing this."  
The two laughed, knowing that at some point crazier events would occur where the turtles, or someone, would need Sam's help because of the abilities she had gained. Jay didn't like it, but he knew his sister could save people. He would be terrified every time she would be needed, but he also knew that she was the strongest person he knew in every way.  
This included her ability to connect with people, and he could sense that she wanted to use these social abilities right now.  
"Alright, I can sense you want to go on your apology tour. Go on, be a mature adult" he said as he waved his hand for her to leave.  
"Thanks big bro" Sam said before she turned on her heel and exited the med wing.

Jay sat down and leaned back in his chair. He was smiling, but now that his sister had left the room, the tears began to fall.  
"It's not easy being the parent, is it?"  
Jay whipped around to see Splinter standing in the doorway.  
"Sensei…"  
Splinter walked in and placed his hand on the man's shoulder.  
"It is alright to feel scared, terrified even, my son. It's never an easy decision to let our grip go from the ones we care about most."  
A few tears continued to fall as Jay spoke with the wise rat.  
"I know she can create change, and I want her to, but if anything ever happens to her…"  
Jay couldn't even finish his sentence because even more tears began to fall.  
Splinter whipped his tail to snatch a box of tissues and then carefully brought them over to the hurting man.  
"Thanks Sensei."

The old rat sighed.  
"Have I ever told you about the first night I caught the boys sneaking back in from a night out?"  
Jay shook his head.  
"It was silent, and I heard the tiniest creek. I jolted awake and checked on the boy's room only to see that they were all gone. The first thought that filled my mind was that something happened and they had been hurt. And what do I discover? They had all snuck out! Unbelievable!"  
Jay smiled and rapidly shook his head.  
"Ohhhh you wouldn't believe how livid I was the first time I caught Sam sneaking back in. I know how you feel."  
"You get so worried about them getting hurt, and then you find out that your loved ones were throwing themselves into danger instead! You think you know what's best for them, and you think that they can only be safe when you're nearby…and yet they told me about how they saved people who had been taken hostage by the Foot. They had taken matters into their own hands, but they were able to handle everything on their own."  
"Are you talking about when they met April? Because they told me about that and how furious you were with them" Jay said with a laugh as he imagined the huge muscular turtles looking scared as hell just like they had described.  
Splinter laughed the same way. "Yes, it was that night. And then the next day they fought the Shredder together. I wanted to be mad, I hated that they were fighting these battles…but at the same time I learned that I needed to trust my sons. I had taught them so much, and they had all grown into such skilled fighters with big hearts. I wanted things to go back to the way they were, where the boys couldn't leave the lair and had to stay down below…but I knew that the world needed them. I will always need them and I will never stop worrying, but at the same time, it was the time to start letting them go."  
Jay clenched onto his shirt right where his heart would be.  
"Does it ever hurt? Because it hurts now."  
Splinter nodded.  
"I have felt that way many times, including the other night when I heard the reports on the police scanner. My heart sunk, and I felt a lump in my throat. I was so scared of what would happen to them, to all 5 of them."  
"What got you through it?" Jay asked sincerely.  
"Confidence. Trust. Believing that as tough as the situation was, at least one of them would be able to figure out what to do in order to settle the situation. They all have their strengths, and together, there is nothing they cannot do."  
Jay nodded.  
"I know I need to start letting her go, I mean she is 17 now. She'll be in college soon. I can't keep monitoring her every move. I want to, I'll always want to, but I know I can't."  
Splinter placed a hand on the man's shoulder.  
"It's never an easy choice to make my son, but it is something us guardians know we must do. If we love the ones we care about, there are times where we need to let go. You have to trust that you have raised her to be able to defend herself and make the right choices as she continues to grow."  
"Our job is never easy is it?"  
"Ha! Never!" the old rat laughed.

The two continued to talk and reminisce for a while. It was midnight when they sensed a presence enter the room. The two turned around to see Leonardo standing behind them.  
"This a good time?" Leo asked.  
Splinter stood up and smiled. "It is time I head to bed. I'll leave you two be" he said as he stood up. He placed a hand on Leo's shoulder as he passed by him, right before the officially left the room.  
Jay nodded his head to the side, signaling for his companion to sit next to him.  
"What's up?"  
Leo pursed his lips together as he walked over and took a seat next to his human friend.  
"I'm sorry for letting Sam go with us without officially confirming you knew of her whereabouts. That was irresponsible on my part, and I apologize for not knowing that she had left with us without your approval."  
Jay couldn't help but smile. Leo was always so formal, and he would always appreciate Leo's honesty and sincerity. He understood what it was like to be an older brother, so he knew how Jay felt during situations like this.  
"It's not your fault. She knew better and she took advantage of your trust. But, I get why she did it. Sounds like you guys really needed her" he said with a raised brow.  
"*sigh* I'm not proud to admit it, but she saved our butts a few times today."  
Jay was nervous to ask, but he needed to know.  
"Hey…what happened at the end of your mission that got you guys so worked up about Sam joining you?"  
Leo paused for what seemed like an eternity before he finally gained the courage to talk.  
"Donnie could sense she was getting weak since she had used her power more today than ever before. He hid her in some brush by the side of the river where we were fighting. My brothers and I ended up falling down a waterfall, and apparently when Sam was this from the sidelines, her powers took over because of her emotions. She fought Bebop and Rocksteady by herself…"

Leo unintentionally paused. He had just talked to Sam about this a little while ago, but the feeling of not being able to do anything to protect his sister still terrified him.  
"Leo?" Jay asked cautiously.  
Leo looked back up at him and his brows rose.  
"Oh, right. Sorry."  
"You okay?"  
Leo shook his head slowly.  
"No."  
"What happened?"  
"…we fell down the waterfall when Sam fought the mutants on her own. They're idiots, but they're big and stronger than my brothers and me. We didn't know what was happening. We rushed from the water as quickly as we could and we were running around looking for her. Thank god Donnie found her in the water. She was lying on a log that floating along with the current. She told us that as she was running from the mutants that her body just went numb and she couldn't move…we failed her."  
Jay leaned back in his chair. He had just talked to Splinter about learning to let go, yet now he told that Sam could have ended up with a tragic fate. What was he supposed to do?  
"It won't happen again. She told us you said she could go with us, but don't worry it won't happen" Leo said quickly, reassuring his pained friend that their sister would never be put in harm's way ever again.  
Jay, still leaned back in his chair, turned and looked towards his friend.  
"I did say she could go, and she will."  
Leo's eyes went wide.  
"Why?" he asked, an angered and concerned tone coming from his speech.  
"I was talking to your dad. He told me how it wasn't easy for him to let you guys go fight, but he knew that the world needed you. I'm terrified that something worse could happen to her, but I'm even more scared of what will happen if she doesn't fight."  
Leo paused for a moment and let the words he just herd sink in. He remembered having discussions with his father when the boys were officially told they could patrol the city. He and his brothers were thrilled that they were now allowed to help protect the people of the city. Donnie had even researched the statistics of the crime rates after the four began their nightly patrols and the number of crimes (or successful crimes) had decreased, and the number of criminals being locked up had increased. As proud and excited as he and his brothers were, he knew that they were all scaring the hell out of their father every time they left the lair.

"So dad talked to you about all that?" Leo asked softly.  
"Yeah. He worries about all of you, but he trusts that you will all make the right decisions in the end. I don't think I'm ready for that responsibility of letting Sam choose what's best for her, but I feel like my time is running out to keep making those decisions."  
"You're still her brother, you'll always have a say in what she does."  
Jay smiled at Leo.  
"I know, and that's why I told her to help you guys save the world. If I made it known I didn't want her to, then she wouldn't. There will be people out there that will need her just as much as I do. She can help, just like you guys can, I just have to stay strong and stay positive."  
Leo shot the man a small smile.  
"You're a good brother, she's lucky to have you."  
"Ohhhhh she's not gonna think that way when she's grounded. She's still gonna pay for leaving the damn country and not even officially telling me!"  
The way he spoke displayed how frustrated he was, but he was also smiling. He was pissed, but he was happy she made it home and that this could be a laughable moment.  
"You guys mind if I crash here tonight? Brenda knows I'm here and she's out with friends tonight anyway."  
"No problem, we have your 'spend the night' kit in the guest bedroom."

The two went to their individual rooms, thanked each other for the talk, and called it a night.

 ***Earlier that night, back to 10:00p.m.***

Leo and Raph had gone back to their individual rooms. They were still very frustrated about everything that had happened recently. The lack of communication, the sneakiness, the blaming of everyone for everything that had gone wrong. Out of all the brothers, they were the two who were the worst at handling their upset and frustrated emotions. Raph paced back and forth in his room for what seemed like forever, and ironically, Leo was doing the same thing. They continued to blame everyone else, including the other brother, for many of the reasons that so many things had gone wrong lately. It wasn't until the two thought of Sam verbally blowing up at everyone that the two stopped pacing and instead just stood still.

Neither of them were proud of the words they had both said to the others in the group recently, and they began to rethink some of their actions as well. Hearing Sam yell at them the way she did was eye opening for the two hot heads. That was one of the unique qualities that Sam had, and not just in regards to these two individual brothers either. Without her realizing it, Sam somehow held this weight over the brothers where when she was truly upset or hurt, the brothers felt her pain. Not literally, but they would feel hurt whenever she did. They didn't understand it, and none of them could explain it no matter how hard they tried.

Seeing her so upset and share everything she did to the brothers finally made the two oldest brothers pause, breathe, and reflect on what they had said and done. Neither of them was thrilled about what would come next, but they knew that they had to go and apologize to each other and to the rest of the group. Leo left his room and began making his way over towards the opposite side of the lair. As he was about to cross the living room area, he looked up and was surprised to see Raph standing in the hallway to his and Mikey's bedroom.  
They both just stood there, looking at each other with blank expressions, neither of them knowing where to go from here.  
Leo nodded his head to the side. "Couch?"  
"Couch" Raph mumbled.

The two brothers awkwardly made their way over towards the couch and both flopped down onto the cushions of the opposite sides of the piece of furniture.  
They sat in silence, waiting for the other brother to begin the awkward and emotional conversation.  
"Are you gonna talk or not?" Raph asked, adding a little more sass to his tone than he intended.  
Leo squinted his eyes and stared at his brother.  
"Why do I have to talk first?"  
"Because you're the leader, AND the older brother" he said as he waved his hand in front of him as if this was common sense that Leonardo was supposed to know.  
Leo sighed. He went to open his mouth to begin the conversation, only to be cut off by Raph who blurted out "I'm sorry for sneaking into police headquarters okay?"  
Raph grunted and looked off to the side towards the lab, away from his brother.  
Leo looked down at his feet as he took his turn to talk.  
"I get why you did it."  
This surprised Raph as he turned back towards his brother and stared at him, curiously waiting to hear the rest of his response.  
"I cast you out, and I removed your input from an important decision. I'm sorry."  
Raph was now facing forward. He couldn't look at his brother when he was this peeved.  
"How could you do that? That mutagen could have changed our lives. How can you just leave two of your brothers out of the decision? Well technically all three since you told Donnie what to say rather than letting him talk for himself."  
"Because you know what you wanted, I know what you wanted, but you guys don't think of what can happen. Everyone thinks everything will run smoothly, but none of you consider the negative side. None of you consider what would truly happen and I was right."  
"Oh you were right?"  
"Yes! They hurt you, and Mikey! I knew that people wouldn't accept us but you guys never listen! I knew something like what happened at headquarters would happen and yet you all fought against me anyway and did whatever you wanted! You guys know what you want but you don't know what's best for you!"  
"And I guess you know exactly what each of us needs right?" Raph asked in a rather nasty tone.  
"Yes! I'm your older brother, to all of you! I know everything about each and every one of you! I mean do you really think I would deny this opportunity just because to teach you a lesson about accepting who we all are? Do you all really think I would deny an incredible chance for all of to live and experience your dreams just to try and teach you a lesson? Hell, letting you guys use the mutagen would allow you to further accept yourself as you adapt to new surroundings and get to act as your true selves without any secrets. I said no the mutagen because if anything goes wrong then all four of you will be crushed if you lose whatever you gain from being human, and what happened at police headquarters proved that I was right! People would accept us as humans, but once they see we're mutants than they want nothing to do with us unless it's hunting us down."  
Raph huffed.  
"You can't play the older brother card forever."  
Leo was confused.  
"What did you say?"  
"You always say you do stuff and that you know stuff because you're the oldest brother, but it works the other way around to."  
Leo was a bit shocked to hear this. He had always kept a close watch on his brothers in order to protect them, but, had they been watching him to? When?  
Raph was able to read his brother's expression and could sense his shock and confusion, so he continued to explain himself.  
"You're always watching over us, so that means we also have to watch over you. You think we don't pay attention to details but we do, and we all know that you want to be human to. You have ever since you were 10 and read that comic about the mutant samurai who lived with humans and had a wife and daughter. It was all a dream, but it gave him the courage to try and work with humans in the real world, and he succeeded in doing so. You make it sound like we're the only ones who want to be human, but you want a life like that just as much as we do."

Leo just sat there speechless. He never knew that his brothers knew about his dreams that resided from reading that comic book.  
"If you knew how I felt, why didn't you say anything?" he said as he turned his head to look at his brother.  
Raph let out a light chuckle.  
"Because you're like me, you don't talk about emotions unless thoroughly provoked. It's easier to act tough and keep it bottled up until someone realizes it needs to come out. And even then it can turn into something ugly. You know, like telling your brothers that their opinion doesn't mean shit" Raph said with a smirk and raised brows.  
Leo pursed his lips and looked away once again.  
"It's okay," Raph said, "I could tell by your face you regretted it the second you said it."  
"I should have known better. About hiding information from you, about how to talk you down. I should have explained my thoughts then and there, both about you guys and my own fears of wanting a human life and the consequences of losing it" he stated somberly.

Raph could sense the pain in his brother's voice and pat his hand on his brother's shoulder.  
"Hey, I told you it's okay. We're the same when it comes to showing emotions. You seem like an ass, but it's because you're trying to protect us. You would never purposefully hurt us. I know it because I've been there more times than I'd like to admit…"  
He began to pull his hand back towards his own body as he looked down and glowered towards the floor.  
"…and that means I shouldn't have argued with you the way I did, and I shouldn't have gone against you and snuck into headquarters."  
Leo looked over and saw how hurt his brother was about his actions.  
Leo chuckled. "Looks like we both messed up big time."  
Raph gave a small yet still depressed smile that mimicked the expression his brother was displaying.  
"And worst of all, we didn't just mess with each other, but we hurt Mikey."  
"I know" Leo said as he squeezed his eyes tight. "Did you see his face the night it happened?"  
"No, thank god. I probably would have done worse shit than Sam if I had. But his voice alone was brutal to hear."  
Leo stood up from the couch and turned around, holding his hand out to Raph.  
"We should go check on him, make sure he's okay after everything that's happened."  
Raph smiled as he took his brother's hand.  
"Agreed."  
"Wow, you're agreeing with me. Shows how serious this is for you" Leo teased.  
"Shut up and lead the way" Raph said as he playfully shoved his brother forward.

A minute later the two were standing in front of Mikey's door. Leo carefully twisted the know and cracked the door open.  
"Is it safe to come in?" Leo asked.  
"Yup."  
Leo pushed open the door and saw his baby brother reading comics books in a bean bag chair in the corner of the room.  
"Hey, can we talk?"  
Mikey looked up with a dull expression, but this soon changed to a more serious look once he saw both his eldest brothers enter the room.  
Raph shut the door behind him and then walked over and sat in a bean bag chair next to Mikey, while Leo sat in front of the two brothers.  
"Um, whatever happened, I didn't do it" Mikey stated.  
The older two began to laugh.  
"You're not in trouble you dork" Raph said, "we're just checking on you."  
Mikey squinted his eyes.  
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"  
"Because you've been through a lot lately, and we want to make sure that you're truly okay" Leo calmly stated.  
Mikey was honestly confused, but this was because he just moved on from depressed moments rather quickly if it wasn't anything too serious that had occurred.  
"Um, what exactly have I been through lately?"  
"I shouldn't have brought you to headquarters with me" Raph said with a gloomy expression.  
Now Mikey understood why they were concerned.  
He nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.  
"Guys, it's no big deal-"  
"But it is," Leo cut in, "because you've always dreamed of getting to live a life where you can interact with others. You're a natural born people person and yet you can never be around people. And we know that what they said at headquarters damaged your dreams of getting to meet and communicate with humans."  
The youngest brother paused as his gaze was now aimed at the floor.  
"It is what it is, you know? We have Sam, and Jay, and April. We don't need anybody else. If monsters is what they see then that's just how it is. That doesn't mean I can't dream anymore. As long I'm breathing then I can dream whatever I want to. No one can change that" he replied with a small smile.  
Leo and Raph both shot each other a glance that displayed their pride and also their sorrow for their younger brother. They were proud of him for not giving up and for continuing to dream of a life where he was surrounded by others, and they were also proud of his abilities in being able to see the bright side to such saddening situations. However, it also hurt them how he had to force himself to realize how the majority of the world would always see them. This realization from their youngest brother was as heartbreaking to them as hearing him say 'we're not monsters' the night the cops went to attack them at headquarters.  
That's when Leo remembered something that Sam had told him on the plane.  
"But not everybody thinks were monsters" Leo mumbled to himself.  
Mikey shook his head.  
"Don't worry bro, you don't have to lie to me about it" he said in a genuine tone.  
Raph's eyes went wide as he realized what Leo was getting at.  
"No, Sam said that there were people who wanted to meet us. Like, hundreds of people that know we exist that were forced into the Foot clan" Raph stated, enthusiasm creeping up into his voice.  
"What?" Mikey asked  
"I knew you two were listening in on us" Leo said as he smiled and shook his head at Raph.  
"Guilty as charged" he replied with the same expression. He then turned towards Mikey. "Donnie and I were spying on Sam and Leo while they were talking when we were on the plane."  
"Ohhhhhhh, where was I?"  
"Asleep."  
"Darn" Mikey pouted. He then displayed a confused expression and looked back up towards Leo.  
"But, what did you mean there are hundreds of people who want to meet us?"  
"Sam said that there are hundreds of people from the Foot survivors who have seen or at least heard about us, and they want to meet us and thank us for helping rescue them and bring down Shredder" Leo calmly stated. He wasn't quite sure how Michelangelo would react to this news. He wasn't sure if the youngest would be thrilled to hear the good news, or if he would be become irrational from not knowing about this information sooner. Of course, Raphael didn't consider this as at all when he spoke.  
"Yeah, and apparently Sam tried to tell fearless for a while about these people and he just ignored the idea as soon as he heard it involved other people" Raph scoffed.  
Mikey shot his oldest brother a despondent pouty face.  
"Thank you Raphael" Leo groaned as he bit his lip. "I talked to Sam about it and apologized for always immediately shutting the idea down. BUT the main reason I brought it up is because that means there are other people out there that think we're heroes, and NOT monsters" he said with a reassuring smile.  
The smile on Mikey's face seemed like it would never stop growing. He couldn't believe that there were people out there that wanted to meet him and his brothers.  
"Tch, of course we couldn't have met any of those people the night we broke into headquarters" Raph mumbled.  
"But there are people that care about us, that's all that matters" Mikey said cheerfully, "and that means the dreams can live on."  
Hearing this, the two older brothers believed that overall their baby brother would be alright, but there were still things they needed to apologize to him for.

"Mikey, sorry for what I said on the plane, on our way home…" Leo trailed off, ashamed at what he said to his brother.  
Mikey titled his head in confusion.  
"Ohhhhh!" he said with wide eyes, "you mean 'you're all heart and no brains'" he said with a grumpy face and in a low voice as a means to mock Leonardo.  
"Yeah, that" Leo sighed.  
"Uh, I wanna apologize to, for saying that you didn't work hard enough on our mission" Raph said as he rubbed the back of his head, also feeling ashamed at how he had downed his brother.  
Mikey had returned to looking confused.  
"Ummmm, you guys insult me all the time. Why are you apologizing for it now?"  
"Because we took it too far this time" Raph said.  
"And it only made everything way worse than it already was" Leo added.  
Mikey chuckled as he spoke.  
"You guys are only saying that because of how dramatic everything has been lately. You guys realize you have said wayyyyy worse things to me in the past, right?"  
Both the older brothers felt a slight blush come across their cheeks. Had they really been that harsh towards their baby brother?  
"Well, we'll watch ourselves from now on, okay?" Leo asked gently.  
Mikey rapidly shook his head. "Dudes, no way! Don't change the way things are! Like, we live in this weird cycle where I annoy you with pranks, and so you guys fight me as payback, then I joke around during training to piss you off for fighting back, then you kick my ass. Like it's just normal at this point."  
"And that's a good thing?" Raph asked.  
"Yes! It's what we do! That's how older brothers and younger brothers get along! Sam said she was the same way with her siblings all the time."

The two older brothers pat their youngest brother on the back as they began to stand up. As silly and dorky as Mikey could be, moments like this truly displayed how mature he truly could be. More than anything they were just happy to see that their brother was alright and was not truly hurting from anything that was said to him.  
At the same time, hearing Sam's name made the oldest two realize that there were still others they needed to apologize to.

"Wait" Mikey said as he stood up, stopping his brothers before they could leave the room.  
Raph shut the door that he had just opened, and both brothers turned back around so that they were facing their youngest brother once again.  
Michelangelo began to fidget with his fingers as he talked.  
"Sorry for not trying to see things your way about bringing Sam with us on missions. Just…she's freaking awesome man, and she's one of the greatest fighting partners anyone could ever ask for. I thought she was ready and that we were ready to bring her with us…but, I don't want to lose her…" his voice trailed off, the sorrow in his tone matching the sorrowful thoughts in his mind as he spoke.  
Leo walked forward and stood in front of his brother. He placed his hand on his youngest brother's shoulder, which gained the youngest brother's attention and guided him to look up at his oldest brother.  
"Hey, the important thing is that she made it back. We found her and we brought her home-"  
"Yeah but what if we didn't? What if we couldn't save her? I mean I obviously am no help since I couldn't even protect my own brothers" Mikey said as he pulled away from his brother's grasp and walked over towards the opposite side of the room, continue to fidget with his fingers as he did so.  
"Mikey I never should have told you that" Raph stated.  
"Why? It's true right? I blew it and we could have lost people because of it-"  
"BUT WE DIDN'T" Leo stated firmly. "You made mistakes, hell we've all been making poor choices around here lately. But we ALL made it back, and that means we all get a second chance."  
Mikey caught his breath, not realizing how choked up he had gotten, and then nodded his head towards his brothers.  
"Got it…thanks guys" Mikey replied, swinging his arms forward and back as a means to help calm himself down.  
Leo and Raph both walked over as they participated in giving their brother the typical bro hug.  
"So now are you officially good?" Raph asked, teasing his brother.  
Mikey nodded, a genuine smile reappearing on his face.  
"Yeah, I think so."

"You coming with us to talk to Donnie?" Leo asked.  
"Ummmmm nah, I'll talk to him later. Right now I'm just gonna chill here."  
Leo and Raph both shot each other a questioning yet joking look before they continued to exit the room.  
"Don't worry Mikey, she'll be in here soon" Leo teased.  
"Hehe…what?" Mikey nervously chuckled.  
"Bye baby brother" Raph said with a devilish smile as he shut the door behind him as he left the room.

Leo and Raph both shook their heads as they walked away towards the lab.  
"Does he think we're stupid and don't realize that he's waiting for Sam to come visit him?" Raph teased.  
"Nah, you know he plays dumb when he gets nervous" Leo replied with a smile.  
"Wow, he must be nervous all the time then" Raph mocked.  
Leo scoffed at his brother and playfully slapped him on the back of the head. This then lead the two to playfully fight each other the rest of the time it took them to walk to Donnie's lab.

It felt nice that things were slowly beginning to return back to normal.

 **I apologize if this chapter seems short and rushed. Honestly, I've been wanting to write for over a month (maybe it's been two, like idek at this point) and I've had so much work to do that it's been impossible for me to update the story  
The life of teacher majors man, it's crazy stuff. -_- /O.o\**

 **So I wanted to update at least something in case I disappear because for the next moth I'll be taking two summer courses while also working while also attending family and friend events on the weekends. Like it's going to be a fun summer for me, I know that, but I want to write this story to the point that it makes me upset when I can't. Like this fic is my guilty pleasure and it sucks when I can't update anything at all for months.**

 **BUT I finally was able to add a little something. I basically broke this chapter into two halves so I could update something before I head back. Thank you to any and all who have continued to read my story even though I've disappeared for so long. Again, I promise this story has a lot that will be added over time to it, and I hope you all continue to enjoy the crazy roller coaster of events that the characters will experience.**


	41. Chapter 41

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #41

 ***Earlier around 10:40***

Sam wasn't sure which of the brothers she should talk to first. As she was making her way back into the lair, she heard Leo and Raph's voices coming from the hallway that lead to Mikey and Raph's rooms, so she decided she would go check up on Donnie.

She walked over towards the lab and knocked on the closed door. Sam heard footsteps and seconds later Donatello had opened the door. He gave her a small smile and nodded his head backwards, signaling for her to come in.  
Sam had sat on an empty space on one of the work tables, and once Donnie had shut the door, he took a seat in his desk chair.  
"Did things go okay with your brother?" he asked gently.  
Sam happily nodded. "Overall yeah. I told him that I should have been more respectful and that I just didn't want to stress him out even more, and we had a long talk about that and how I come first. And then he talked about how it will scare the shit out of him but that he actually will allow me to go on missions with you guys without updates."  
Donnie's eyes went wide.  
"Really? What changed?" he asked as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.  
"He said he wasn't happy with how I handled things, but he understood why I snuck around the rules and still went with you guys anyway. He's glad I was able to help keep you all safe and that you guys protected me as well, and that he believes I can help you guys keep the city safe."  
Donnie chuckled.  
"Reminds me of when Sensei finally decided to let us patrol the city at nights on our own. He was terrified to let us go, but he knew people would need us as much as he did."  
Sam snapped her fingers and pointed at Donnie.  
"Dude, that's exactly what Jay was talking to me about. He told me he wanted me to help those in need and that that meant I wouldn't always be able to wait for him to give me an official okay to take action."  
Sam waited for a reply from her friend, but all he did was lean back in his chair and nervously fold his hands in his lap.  
Sam pursed her lips and displayed a gloomy look.  
"You don't want me on missions with you now, do you?" she asked.  
His head quickly snapped up as he looked at her with an irked expression.  
"Okay, don't do that."  
"Do what?" Sam asked.  
"Don't act like I don't want you on missions. Of course I want you to join us on missions."  
"Then what's with your body language dude?" Sam asked, slightly playful, slightly serious in the tone she used.  
"Just…I should have been more careful. Neither of us knew what your limits were and yet I had you completing crazy difficult stunts to help us. I should have known better. Maybe Leo was right, maybe I was taking advantage of you."  
"NOPE! Wrong answer" Sam replied rather loudly.  
Donnie's face scrunched up.  
"This isn't a game Sam."  
"I never said it was, I'm just saying that this is one of the few times that you're wrong."  
Donnie sat there quietly, waiting for the girl to explain herself.  
"Donnie, you're literally the smartest person I know. That means that any decision you made out there was one that could drastically change the outcome for the rest of the mission, meaning that if you lead me to do anything out there, then that means it was the last resort decision and that there was absolutely no other solutions to keep everyone alive and safe."  
"But…what if there were other solutions? What if there were other ways to solve the problems we faced and instead I just relied on you because I knew your powers could help?" Donnie began to ask rather frantically.  
Sam paused for a few seconds before another smile formed on her face.  
"Alright Mr. photographic memory. Close your eyes and imagine we're on the place as it's about to crash. Look at everything around you and try to come up with a different solution that still keeps us safe, but doesn't involve me in any way. Tell me what you can come up with."

Donnie closed his eyes and pictured everything around him. He pictured everything from the cock pit (or at least everything that was left of the cock pit), he pictured the layout from what remained throughout the rest of the plane, he pictured the outside layout of the plane, and he pictured all the gear that he and his team had packed. He sat there for what seemed like years as he tried to figure out any other solution that could have been used that would have prevented Sam from putting her life at risk.  
Finally, he opened up his eyes and sighed.  
"I can't think of anything. Not one damn thing that we could have done to keep you safe" he said as he groggily flopped back against his chair and aimed his gaze up at the ceiling, annoyed that there was nothing he could have done to better protect his sister and his friend.  
"But don't you get it?!" Sam said with excitement, "that means you guys needed me! It means that you all would have been in danger if I wasn't there. Don't you see that as a sign that we all made the right choice in letting me join you on the mission?"  
Donnie paused as he looked forward and saw how excited Sam was that she was able to help protect him and his brothers.  
"You sure like playing the hero role, don't you?" he smirked.  
Sam chuckled.  
"Playfully, hell yeah I want to be the badass hero. Seriously, I just want to know you guys are safe" she said honestly.  
Donnie sighed.  
"Still, things need to change if you're going to continue joining us on missions like that. Luckily we all made it out okay, but if we had been facing a different villain then things might not have ended quite the same way that they did."  
Now it was Sam who displayed a nervous expression as she spoke.  
"I know, and I'm sorry for scaring you all like that."  
"Hey," Donnie called out, to which Sam looked up at him, "you didn't understand your powers just yet, and neither did we. It wasn't your fault. The important thing is that you made it out okay and that you're here with us now."  
Sam smiled at the turtle in front of her.  
"Thanks D. And don't worry, now that I better understand my powers, that means we can conduct better tests with more informative results."  
"Oh I'm definitely going to enjoy that" he replied with an even wider smile, excited for all the complicated tests he and Sam would eventually set up in order to truly test her abilities.

Just then, the lab door creaked open as two sets of eyes slowly and gradually peeked in.  
"Hey, this a bad time?" Leo asked.  
Donnie shook his head and waved for his two brothers to enter the room.  
"You're both here, perfect" Raph said.  
"Sarcasm or serious?" Sam questioned playfully.  
Raph squinted his eyes at her and replied with "serious."  
"What's up?" Donnie asked as he continued to sit in his chair.  
Raph leaned back against the table where Sam was sitting, and Leo had sat down on a nearby swivel chair that was almost right next to Donnie.  
"We just wanted to check up on you, and to apologize for how we treated you" Leo stated calmly. "To start, I never should have made you keep secrets from the others. I thought that hiding them from the surface-"  
"Would prevent them from losing all hope of actually getting to live lives where they could interact with humans and live out their dreams?" Donnie questioned as he cut Leo off.  
Leo scoffed.  
"That's right, you two were eavesdropping on Sam and me" Leo said as he bit his lip.  
"I knew it! Ohhhhhh I knew it!" Sam said as she pointed back and forth between Raph and Donnie, and then playfully shoving Raph who was closest to where she was sitting.  
"ANYWAY," Leo continued, "I should have let you and the others join in on the decision of what to do with the ooze, and it wasn't fair turning you against the other two like that."  
Donnie smiled and nudged his brother.  
"It's fine. I wouldn't have followed along if I didn't have some sense as to your intentions. I know you're strict, but I know you're hearts always in the right place, especially when it comes to all of us."  
He then turned his head towards Raph.  
"I'm sorry I held information from you though" Donnie said, disheartened.  
Raph shot him a small smile.  
"It's all good D, you were just following orders. Knowing you, you were doing what you thought was best for the rest of us."  
Leo shot both brother's a small but genuine grin. Donnie was displaying the same expression at first, but then his slowly switched to an uneasy look.  
Donnie was fidgeting with his fingers, as though silently cracking them, as he began to speak.  
"I'm sorry to, about what happened with device at the river. I just, I made sure, well I thought Sam was safe and then I saw the device and I just went for it. I didn't try to signal anything to you and that's unlike me" he said solemnly.  
Leo leaned back in his chair as he shook his head.  
"No, that's exactly like you. You analyze a situation and in seconds you react. Thinking like that could save one of us. Looking around to signal someone could be the split second move that leads to one of us getting killed one day. The fact that you were able to pinpoint the device and maneuver towards it within seconds from so far away is actually impressive, well impressive for someone with normal intelligence. That's just typical Donnie to all of us" he said with a smirk, which gained a low laugh from the adjacent turtle.  
"Unfortunately," Leo continued, "I just happened to find an alternate route at the exact same time you found yours. Sadly it just happens that way sometimes. It doesn't help that I just jump right into action and completely forget about the rest of you though" Leo said as he looked away from his brother and instead directed his attention to the computer screens beside him.  
Donnie smirked as he simultaneously shot his oldest brother a questioning look.  
"Do you realize how hypocritical that statement was?" he asked, slightly teasing his brother.  
Leo, confused, looked back at Donnie with scrunched features.  
"What?"  
"You just told me that it was a good thing that I was able to react so quickly and that one day it could save one of our lives, yet you just downed yourself for doing the same thing."  
Leo nodded his head. "True, but in my case I didn't pay attention to where any of you were, I just acted."  
Donnie pursed his head and nodded, then suddenly his eyes widened as he came to a conclusion.  
"Alright, sounds like the only way we can learn from this is to do a quick 360 before we officially act. That way we double check and see who needs help, and if everyone is good then just as fast we act and do what we need to do. Deal?"  
A true and wide smile formed on Leo's face as he held his fist outward.  
"Deal" he replied while Donnie completed the fist bump.

"Huh, well what do you know?" Sam stated, "Leo just stated that what Donnie did proved that he has skills, quick reactions skill that are an extremely good thing. Isn't that funny Raph?" Sam said rather loudly (on purpose of course) as she then punched Raph in the shoulder (playfully, but still purposefully rough enough to make him wince).  
Of course, Raph knew what she was getting at. He tried his best to turn towards her with a somewhat calm expression (and without holding onto his throbbing shoulder) as he spoke.  
"I was going to let them finish talking before I did SAM" Raph said, attempting to whisper, but more so grunting and making his voice louder than he intended to.  
"Well I'm done" Leo said bluntly, lowly raising his hands up in the air.  
"Perfect" Raph grunted. He then looked over towards his younger brother and sighed.  
"Don, you know I'm an ass right?"  
"I know that very well" Donnie chuckled.  
"So, you know I say shit I don't mean because I'm an ass, right?"  
"Sounds like a personal problem" Donnie said, nodding his head as though this had become a therapy session and he was the therapist.  
Raph couldn't help but smile at his brother's reaction.  
"I never should have said what I did on the plane. You've obviously got skills. Hell, you've used them to kick my ass more times than I'd like to admit" he said, gritting his teeth and rubbing the back of his head as he remembered past trainings where he had lost to his brother.  
Donnie rapidly pat his hands on his knees.  
"Yes! Why didn't I think of those times! I always think of good comebacks AFTER the fight. I'm that guy" he pouted as he slumped back into his chair.

Now that Raph could tell that Donnie was feeling better, he then turned towards Sam, knowing that he needed to apologize to her as well.  
"I shouldn't have acted the way I did to you either" he said as he looked up at her for a quick second and then directed his gaze towards the floor seconds later.  
Sam tilted her head in confusion.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"The way he talked to you when your powers took over," Leo cut in, "and I'm sorry to."  
"We both treated you like crap, and it wasn't even your fault" Raph added.  
Sam fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke.  
"Yeah, but you guys didn't know that" she replied glumly.  
"Doesn't mean it was okay for us to talk to you like that though" Raph said roughly as he looked back up at her. His angry tone wasn't aimed at her, but rather at himself as he regretted the way he had spoken to her within the past so many hours since the incident.  
A small grin appeared on Sam's face as she looked back and forth between the oldest two.  
"But that's just how you both show you care. Yeah your tones can sound dark, but that's how pissed you guys were that I could have gotten seriously hurt. I don't blame you. And sadly I really could have damaged my future. I was lucky things panned out the way they did, but things could have gone wrong, and fast. I should have stayed where Donnie left me. I could have helped without literally jumping into the fight."  
"Well, let's look at the bright side," Leo said, "maybe all this was supposed to happen the way it did. Because of your reaction, we learned more about your powers. This means that we can incorporate this information into your future trainings, since I already know you two are planning how you can further test this newly learned information out" Leo chuckled as he looked back and forth between the two nerds in the room.  
Sam's grin was now a beaming smiled as she continued her apology.  
"Still, no matter where I am, I'll try to better control myself now that I know what sets my powers off, I promise."  
"It might be awhile before you join us on missions though" Donnie said.  
Sam's expression became grim.  
"What? Why?"  
"Because I'm not letting you go back out there with us if there's a chance your powers could take over like they did this time, or if you're going to keep having blackouts, like, what was it 7 times? You're not joining us again until we thoroughly test your abilities. Leo was right, I was asking you to do things that could have put your life in danger" Donnie said as he tightly crossed his arms, pained by the thought of losing his sister because of his commands during the mission.  
"But even Jay said I could join you guys from now on" Sam said in a rather demanding tone.

All heads snapped towards her and eyes were wide as they glued themselves towards staring at hers.  
"Jay? As in your brother who was shouting at you earlier for not updating you on where you were?" Raph asked.  
"The brother that was furious that you left the country and could have gotten seriously injured during the mission?" Leo asked.  
"The brother who was fuming because of how many secrets you were keeping from him?" Donnie asked.  
"YESSSSSAAAA!" Sam groaned. "I talked to him and he said he understood why I acted without waiting for his response, and he understood that I helped save all your butts! Which none of you can deny that" she said, strictly pointing at each one of the turtles in the room.  
Leo stood up from his chair.  
"I'm going to go talk to him, just to make sure we're all on the same page."  
Raph and Donnie nodded their heads in approval, which just made Sam roll her eyes. She then jumped down from the table and also began to walk towards the door.  
Leo looked at her and rose a brow, questioning her as he asked "what? Are you going to intervene and change your story before I talk to him?"  
Sam squinted her eyes, taken aback by the comment.  
"No, I'm going to go talk to your younger brother." She then turned back towards the middle brothers. "You guys coming?"  
Donnie shrugged.  
"I think Mikey's the only one I never had any beef with this whole time, so I'm just gonna head to bed and end the day on a good note."  
Raph smirked.  
"Leo and I already talked to him, so he's all yours" he said as he used his arms to guide her towards the exit as though she was a celebrity on the red carpet.  
"Psh, whatever" she said as she playfully pushed by him. "Night guys!"

With that, Leo headed towards the med wing to talk to Jay, Sam headed towards Mikey's room, and the remaining two brother's headed towards their bedrooms to call it a day.

 ***In Michelangelo's bedroom***

Sam knocked on the door and then turned the handle. She then paused before ever so slowly cracking the door open.  
"May I come in?"  
Once Mikey heard her voice, his head shot up and his comic was sent flying across the room. Oddly, this was his way of getting rid of all distractions so that he could focus on his friend.  
Sam took that as a yes and entered the room, shutting the door behind her.  
"Hey, how was the talk with your brother?" he asked.  
Sam grinned. "It went well, he said I could join you guys on missions without updating him."  
Mikey stood there, frozen. His jaw had dropped slightly from the shock of what he had just heard.  
Sam turned away, visibly upset.  
"No no no it's not that I don't believe you!" Mikey rushed to say, "it's just, I'm surprised he would say that so quickly. I mean, wasn't he as scared as we were? He heard about everything that happened…"  
"Yeah, and he also admitted that I had saved each of multiple times during the mission. I mean jeez without me then the entire plane would have fallen out of the sky! All of you would be gone, and I helped out in more ways than just that. Jay knows that I can help people the same way you four can" she said sternly.  
"I know that" Mikey replied in a similar manner, "but just, you don't get it Sam" he said as he shook his head. He then turned away, his hands behind his head, as he walked back towards his bed and flopped onto his back.  
"Then explain to me what I don't understand" Sam persisted as she marched over and stood next to the bed. "What, do you just not want me on missions now? Is that why you were really shocked?"  
"What?!" he said as he shot up and sat upright.  
"Makes sense, you assumed I wouldn't be joining you anymore and now you're shocked that I was given an okay."  
"I'm shocked because you going on missions again means I could have to see you like that again."  
"See me like what?"  
"Dead Sam!"

Sam paused. She opened her mouth as to say something, but then quickly closed it. She didn't know how to respond to that, and she was afraid to. Obviously she had hurt her friend more than she had realized.  
"I mean, I'm the one that vouched for you and encouraged the others to let you train with us and join us on missions back when we first met. You really think I don't want you to go with us?"  
"I-"  
"Well you did, you said it" Mikey cut her off.  
"…what went through your mind when you saw me in the river?" Sam asked softly, realizing that her best friend needed to speak of this or else it would ride on his shoulder for a long while.  
She sat down on the bed near where his legs were spread out so that she could face him as they talked.  
Mikey sighed. "I don't know how to explain it. It was just, dark. Like I completely stopped moving and Raph basically almost ran me over."  
"Like when you were watching the Halloween parade in the sewers?" she asked, remembering how Raph had almost collided with Michelangelo in the sewers just days beforehand.  
"Exactly like that! Like, just every bad vibe I could ever feel just hit me then and I just…well I want to say that I began to fear for the worst, but I couldn't even think. All my thoughts were just gone."  
"So that's why you didn't defend me when Jay grounded me" Sam said, slowly nodding her head.  
He turned his head to face her. The look in his eyes alone signaled how sorrowful her felt.  
"You and me, we're a team, you know that. 99% of the time I would always defend you even if you messed up. That's how we both are towards each other, more so you protecting me though" he said with a chuckle, "but, seeing you that way was different. This wasn't a prank gone wrong, or you were out late in a not great area, you literally could have died. I faced that once, I didn't think I'd have to see it again like that" he said as he turned his face away from her.  
The white of Sam's skin became paler than usual. With everything that had been going on she had completely forgotten that all her family had already seen her die once. The night they all took Shredder down, she had died when trying to save Mikey, and the only reason she was alive now was because of the mutagen running through her veins.  
"Mikey, I'm…I'm…" she said, her voice getting softer and softer as the emotions began building up inside her.  
Mikey turned his head, and as he looked at her he realized now how he was feeling. In appreciation for her understanding, he did his best to keep her calm.  
He placed his hand on her shoulder. Sam stopped stuttering and looked up at him as he spoke.  
"It's okay," he said with a typical Mikey smile, "you're here now and that's all that matters. And I'm sorry for being cold to you earlier and yelling at you and all and encouraging Jay to ground you. It was just hard for me to see all that again, okay? If we need you on a mission then I'm fine if you join us, we all just really need to work some things out though so that none of us have to experience that again."  
Sam reached her arm across and grabbed onto his hand.  
"Donnie and I are going to continue to test and study my abilities so that we can all understand what I can and can't do, and so we can know what my limits are." She then titled her head so that her check lay against Mikey's hand. "Missions will get better and I'll make safer decisions, I promise."  
Mikey smiled at her. "We all have something to work on, and we're all going to get better. We're a team, and we're a family. We all have something to work on and that's going to make the group stronger. That's my promise."  
The two smiled at the others words, but then Mikey's smile began to fade.  
"So, are we good then?" he asked cautiously.  
Sam tilted her head forward and did her best to display an evil expression (though the turtle in front of her could see right through her act).  
"No, things will never be the same" she said viciously, or at least tried to.  
Mikey just waved this expression away. "Psh, girl you love me."  
Sam rolled her eyes. "*sigh* well then I guess that means we're okay."  
By the time the smile appeared on her face, Michelangelo was already pulling her into his side and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.  
"Thank god, I thought you were going to hate me forever for taking your brothers side"  
"Oh there is still a price to pay" she said with a wicked smile.

That fast, Sam had grabbed a Nerf gun that was lying on the floor next to the bed and was shooting at her target. Of course, Mikey knew where his stash was under his bed and was quickly able to retaliate.  
This went on for about 45 minutes, and by 1a.m. the two had crashed on the bed and were sound asleep, as was everyone else throughout the lair.  
Each of them was grateful that after everything they had been through, the night was able to end on a good note.

 **Author's Note: Just like last time, if there's spelling or who knows what other errors, I highly apologize. I haven't even gone back and analyzed the last chapter either. When I get a chance I will correct any major mistakes between the two. I've been able to plan some short breaks into my work and homework times where I can work on this story.**

 **Thank you to those who have stuck with me. I appreciate you guys sticking with me and my story, and I also appreciate the comments you guys have left me** **The feedback always helps me figure out what you guys do and don't like.  
AND THANK YOU to the people who have told me which turtle you think Sam might end up with/who may like Sam (if she even ends up with one hehe ;) ) because that means I'm completing one of my goals for this story, so thank you so very much for your feedback. **

**Hope to see you all, and hopefully soon, in the next chapter :D**


	42. Chapter 42

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TENT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #42

 ***The next day, Monday June 8** **th** **, 2015 around 12p.m. in the lair***

After everything the group had endured the day before, the turtles and their human allies had actually gone to bed at a relatively normal time, which was odd compared to what they were used to.

Everyone except for Sam and Mikey had woken up somewhere around 8 to 9a.m. and after a lengthy debate on how the situation should be handled, it was decided that it was too risky for the turtles to go above ground and try to retrieve the three pieces of the portal from Shredder until later that night when the sun began to set once again. They knew ignoring Shredder during the day was risky and would provide him with plenty of time to further whatever it was that he was scheming, but it would be just as risky if they couldn't hide themselves in the daylight, and it was especially worse with the cops still looking for them. Knowing this, each of them decided to lay low and find ways to calm their minds until they could finally continue the battle later that night.

Once Jay had finally called his fiancé and updated her about where he had been and what had happened to Sam and the turtles, she insisted that he take a break from the wedding planning and that certain things she would handle with her female family and friends in order for him to be able to better watch out for Sam, and also because she knew her soon to be husband was probably very on edge based on everything she had just heard.  
After being given this time to relax, Jay turned to Raph as a workout buddy. He still made sure to get plenty of exercise and kept his body trained and in shape in case he would need to fight for whatever reason, but he had not had a workout anywhere near as strenuous as when he worked for the Foot. Raph, being the workout-aholic he was, was thrilled to work with Jay and test his limits as the two trained and 'hit the gym' together. Throughout their time together, Splinter had joined the two and pushed them further to test their skills as they now trained under their Sensei's watch.

Leo had scanned for a variety of calming activities for himself to complete. He had cleaned his room (which took about 10 minutes since his room was always clean), he then meditated for a while, he went to the kitchen and cleaned up the dishes from breakfast, he trained with Raph and Jay for some time, and ended by just reading whatever he could find that was new from Donnie's room (after being granted permission to do so of course). So he now just sat on his bed, reading a new Stephen King book in the silence of his room.

Donnie had also searched for activities to keep his mind calm, but of course his activities focused on keeping his mind at work as well. He began by looking through police records to see if he could find out anything about April and Casey after they had been arrested, but not much had been reported about the two, which signaled to him that they had not revealed much, or any, information at all. After finally admitting defeat to learning about what happened to his human friends, he decided that he needed people to distract him or else all he would do is sit in front of his computer until the slightest update came through. Luckily, after asking Sam and Mikey, he joined the duo in playing some videogames. After a while, he felt the need to move around and decided he would spend some time working on the truck. He had not made any repairs to the vehicle after the group had tried to prevent Shredder from breaking out of prison, so he thought now would be a good time to do so.

Mikey and Sam had woken up around 9:45, and seeing how everything else was doing their own thing, they assumed that nothing would be done about retrieving the portal pieces until later that night. Knowing this, they hung out in the kitchen for a while where they made a variety of different flavored pancakes while also looking up trailers for upcoming movies, shows, and video games they had been anticipating to be released. After this, Donnie had asked them if they were interested in playing videogames with him (did he think they would say no?). Once Donnie left the group, the duo decided they wanted to move on to a new activity as well. With all the craziness that had been going on the past couple of days, Sam had forgotten all about a dance competition she had coming up in a few more months, so Mikey laid down some beats on the drum set in his room while Sam tried putting together a routine.

While everyone in the group was relaxing and trying to stay calm, each of them was still extremely worried about April and Casey. They hated that there was no way for them to get in contact with their friends and they hated that all they could do was keep their shell cells and turtles com's close by and pray for the best. However, their worries grew stronger when out of nowhere the ground began to shake around 12 that afternoon.

Leo looked up as he heard the beams throughout the lair begin to vibrate. He stepped out of his room and saw dust begin to fall from the ceiling above. Donnie hadn't heard much because he was polishing part of the truck, but once he saw the dust fall he looked up with a concerned expression as he gazed upon the shaking beams up above. Instantly he turned off the device and dashed towards his lab. Mikey displayed the same expression as he stopped his drumming and stood up from his drum set. He was curious, but also anxious about what was making these pieces of the ceiling come falling down. He turned towards Sam and without having to speak, the two knew from the other's face alone that they needed to go find Donnie. Raph and Jay both froze as they noticed the punching bag begin to shake and swing even though they were standing nowhere near it. As soon as they saw the dust fall from the ceiling, they both rushed off to go find Donnie, hoping he could explain what was going on.

At this point, everyone had now gathered together by the collage of monitors right outside of Donnie's lab.  
"What's happening out there Donnie?" Leo asked.  
Donnie turned and faced the screens in awe as he stared at the huge gray cloud that was forming, swirling together as it grew larger and larger.  
"Oh my gosh," he replied, taking a step closer to the monitor, "Shredder did it. The portal's opening."  
Everyone else stepped forward as their faces got closer to the screen as well as they watched the cloud get darker and larger.  
"Wait, what's it doi-" Mikey began to ask before he jumped as the cloud sucked itself in and they exploded outwards. Lightning struck all throughout the inside of the cloud as gusts of wind then pushed the cloud outwards and away from a huge blue streak that had formed in the center of the gray space.  
"Sam" Donnie called out.  
"On it" she replied as she began typing away on one keyboard, while Donnie began typing on another.  
The two began logging into systems that would lead them to the metamaterial cameras (some of the many, many types of cameras and devices that the two had placed on the roof of Sam's apartment building, allowing them to observe events such as this) that allowed them to scan the pieces that were now exiting the portal's entrance and flying throughout the sky.  
At the same time, Donnie had just gotten a call from April.  
"Got it" Jay said, quickly reaching into Donnie's glowing side pocket and answering the phone as he walked away from the screens and into the living room in order to hear the voice on the other side. He knew there wasn't much he could do in this situation, so he thought this was a small way that he could contribute. Right now the brother's needed to focus on whatever it was that was entering their planet's atmosphere.  
All four brother's listened as Jay talked to April over the phone in the living room. Everyone was able to make out that April and Casey were no longer being held up thanks to Vern finding a flash drive with footage from the TCRI building of Bebop, Rocksteady, and Shredder who had all been talking about the portal and the purple ooze. However, they all tried their best to continue to listen as Jay then walked into the kitchen and began a new phone conversation with a woman who went by the name of Jade.

"Incredible" Donnie stated, "this alien war ship is coming through the portal piece by piece."  
While Sam continued to scan the pieces that were appearing, Donnie then began hacking into the main data core of the ship itself.  
Raph and Mikey continued to watch in awe at the huge pieces that flew across the sky as their eyes fluttered from one monitor to the next. Leo had decided to give his brother and sister some space, so he slowly paced back and forth from a bit further back with his arms crossed across his chest.  
"The ships designate is the Technodrome, its commanding officer goes by the name of Krang."  
Mikey waved his fist at the screen in front of him.  
"I don't know that guy, but I hate that guy" he said in a bitter tone. He then realized he was crowding Sam, so he turned and walked back next to Leo.  
Sam turned around to face the group, believing there was no more information she could gather about the machine.  
"What happens if this ship completes construction?" Sam asked.  
"That's the thing," Donnie added severely, "this thing wouldn't just be a ship, it would be a war machine that would end all life here. It would be the end of the world. But, there is something we can do."  
All eyes were now on Donatello.  
"The atmosphere around the Technodrome would be toxic to anyone with a standard cardiovascular system."  
"What are you saying?" Leo questioned.  
"What I'm saying is that the five of us, the only ones with mutagen running through our veins and changing our bodies may be the only ones who can get close enough to this machine to shut it down."  
"How?" Mikey cut in with an anxious tone, and an equally anxious expression, "we're being hunted. They think we're monsters."  
"Yeah," Raph added grimly, "we're gonna need the cops at our backs, not trying to lock us up."  
"Unless…" Donnie trailed off as he walked past his brothers and headed towards his room on the opposite side of the lair.  
Without a word, the rest of his brothers began to follow. Sam however had other thoughts on her mind. She followed the guys but quickly turned towards her brother who was still on the phone in the kitchen and whispered "Jay, our assistance could be used here."  
"I've been on it" he whispered back.  
Sam smiled and replied with a quick nod as she then pulled her phone out and began making some calls as well.  
Meanwhile, the turtles were now standing outside of Donnie's room as he held the purple glass canister of ooze.

"One sip. We'll stay the same on the inside, but look human on the outside."  
Donnie then looked forward at Leo as he then handed him the canister.  
All four of them stared at the glass canister as multiple thoughts were running through each of their heads. Each of them were worried about how things could go wrong, how turning human would drastically change each of their lives, and whether these changes would lead to good or to bad consequences.  
Splinter then appeared behind them. He had hung back and remained silent since usually his sons could handle these situations on their own, but he could tell by their expressions that they were stuck on what their final decision should be.  
He smiled at his children. "Your boyhood is drawing to an end as you now grow into young men. The choice, is yours."  
Leo looked over the canister and then back up at his brothers. He knew that ignoring their wishes in order to protect them only did more bad then good, so he decided to let them play a role in their own fate.  
At this point, Sam had entered the room and was now standing behind Splinter as she watched the turtle's converse.  
Leo looked down at the canister before handing it over to Raph.  
"The choice is yours," he said as he looked around at his brothers, "it's your call."  
Raph looked over at Mikey and Donnie whose stares signaled that they were giving him the final call. They knew Raph would be the most sensitive to this decision, not only from being a middle brother who saw things from the oldest and youngest perspectives, but also because he had been the most hurt from the argument he had had with Leo from the other night.

Raph looked at Leo and realized that all his older brother wanted was to protect them, so he needed to make a choice that kept them safe afterwards.  
He looked at Donnie and believed that the only way he could truly share his intellect with the world would be by introducing himself and displaying what he had learned as himself and not as an average human being.  
He looked at Mikey and believed that the only way his youngest brother would be able to comfortably socialize with others was if he was truly himself the entire time and didn't have to worry of the consequences of his true self being revealed.  
He then looked over at Sam and realized that the number of humans they had personal contact and trust with had continued growing ever since they met her and April within the past year and that they never needed the entire world, but rather these close personal ties to support them all along.  
After thinking over all of this, Raph then turned and launched the canister towards the wall in the living room.  
Donnie's mouth dropped slightly due to shock from his brother's choice.  
Leo's eyes went wide for the exact same reason.  
Mikey was frozen solid, not exactly sure what to think.  
Raph sensed all of this and explained his reasoning.  
"The only way to truly gain the cops trust is to get them to trust us for who we really are, and not by having them trust whoever we'd be pretending to be with that ooze. Let's prove to them that we're not monsters and that the real us is someone they want to work with" he said with confidence.  
Leonardo just stood there and smiled, proud of the maturity in his brothers decision.  
Donnie liked the idea of having future scientists want to work with him because of who he was and not just because he was like everyone else, and he nodded his head as he fist bumped his second oldest brother.  
Mikey let out a small laugh, enjoying the thought of proving themselves and no longer being viewed as monsters.  
"You guys better get in here if you wanna know how I can help with that" Jay called from the kitchen.  
The four turtles followed behind their father as they all made their way into the other room in order to hear what their human friend had to say.

Sam on the other hand was frozen solid as she continued to stare in shock at the purple streak running down the far wall. Of course she agreed with everything that Raph had said and she wanted people to love and respect the turtles the same way she had, but at the same time she knew that not everyone in the world would act this way. Heck, there were people who didn't know what the word 'respect' even meant when interacting with other citizens in New York, so of course not everyone would be kind towards the turtles, and this meant that without that mutagen there was still so much that she would never get to do with her green companions.

She would never be able to introduce them to more basic things such as gyms with endless amounts of equipment, or hiking trails that would be a breeze to them yet still so beautiful from the surrounding natural setting. She would never be able to take them to amusement parks or water parks during the summer and hold his hand if the rides made her dizzy. She would never be able to walk with them along the boardwalks or beaches and kick his ass at skeeball or trick him and then dunk him underwater. There would be no competitions to see who in the group could get the highest scores or who would win beach volleyball or beach soccer, or beach anything for that matter. All winter activities were now thrown out the door. She would never be able to participate in snow ball fights, building snowmen, racing on sleds, or even ice skating where she could hold onto him if she fell. She would never be able to go to actual soccer games and cheer along with them and she would never get to go dancing with him outside the lair. She would never get to travel with them and teach them about South Korea while they then taught her about Japan. She would never get to tease and scare the hell out of them at haunted houses while then holding onto him when she actually felt scared herself.

'Wait' she thought as she paused for a moment, 'he?'  
"Sam?" Donnie called as he walked back up to where Sam was standing. "You okay?"  
'He?!' Sam thought to herself as a blush came across her cheeks. What was she thinking? She had been thinking about things she wanted to do with all he brothers, so how had she kept thinking about stuff with just him? What the hell had just happened?!  
She then felt a hand on her forehead and practically jumped away from the sudden touch.  
Donnie slowly retracted his hand, but his face displayed how concerned he was.  
"Tell me what's on your mind right now" he demanded, assuming this was based on the Krang and the portal, not realizing it was something completely different.  
Sam realized how fast she was breathing and realized she needed to calm down. How could she have thought about her friend, about her brother like that?! And she knew for a fact that that particular brother definitely did not feel that same way about her. Had she just thought of all that in the moment? She had never felt those ways before, at least she couldn't recall any previous times where she had.  
She then looked up at Donnie and lied as best as she possibly could, knowing that if she didn't say something soon then he was going to start freaking out more than she was now.  
Calmly and in a concerned voice she stated "I just hope the cops will end up seeing you guys the same way I do."  
Donnie cooled down himself and smiled as he walked closer to her as he placed both his hands on her shoulders.  
"It's going to be okay. We're a team, somehow we're going to figure this out. Now come on," he said as he gently pat his friends shoulders and then started heading in the other direction towards the kitchen, "it sounds like your brother knows a way he can help us" he said with a smile.  
Sam smiled back at the purple bearing turtle as the two headed towards the kitchen.

 **Ughhhhhh once again another shorter chapter -_- I'm so sorry. I know my promises probably mean nothing at this point. Of course today was FINALLY the last day of my summer classes…..and I got sick 2 days ago -_- like total sore throat, can barely talk, and any talking I do leads to major headaches. Because of that, instead of adding to this chapter, I'm going to upload it as it is. I'd rather give you guys something after a decent wait rather than continue to make you wait longer. Hopefully I'll be uploading the next chapter relatively soon.**

 **Also, DID YOU ALL HEAR THAT WE'RE GETTING A NEW MOVIE?! I personally will be a bit upset if it's a reboot rather than a sequel, and I will be very upset if it's an all new turtle cast. Like I thought the past four actors nailed their roles and did a fantastic job portraying who the turtles were in both films regardless of the script (even though overall I thought both films were well done in all categories, although there is much I would have changed in the first film). However, I'm excited regardless of what's to come because I am always thrilled to get a new series with my boys in it.**

 **And has there been a release date for the new cartoon series? Because I want to be prepared for that as well and yet I feel like I never hear about a release date. As you can see I'm extremely impatient hehe.**

 **Final comment/question: which of the turtles do you think Sam was thinking about at the end of the chapter? ;) hehehe**


	43. Chapter 43

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #43

 ***That same day Monday June 8** **th** **, 2015. About 12:10p.m. in the kitchen of the lair ***

As Sam entered the kitchen she noticed who was standing where at the small round and the small oval tables that were placed next to each other in the kitchen. Splinter was now meditating on the raised pipe in the center of the lair, allowing his sons to discuss their plans alone. Jay was standing on the left side of the small round table, and Leo was standing right across from him, with Raph standing in between the two at the very end of the table. Mikey was standing to the left of Leo, so he was standing along the long oval table, and as Donnie entered the room, he stood right across from Mikey. Sam didn't exactly want to stand near any of the brothers after the random and strange thoughts she had just had about one of them moments ago. Even though she had only had thoughts about one of the brothers, she still felt a bit awkward standing right next to any of them at the moment, so she stood next to Jay, literally right next to him. They were standing so close that he couldn't even move his right arm even if he wanted to because she was practically glued to his right side, leaving a huge gap between Jay and Donnie even though they were technically standing next to each other.

"Sam?" Jay questioned.  
"Hm?" she hummed as she turned her head and looked up at him, moving only her head and refraining from moving her entire body.  
"Can you back off some please?" he asked, a mix of curious and a mix of worried as to what the hell her problem was.  
"No" she said bluntly as she continued to just stare at him.  
"Why are you acting weird?" Leo asked, displaying the same expression as Jay as similar thoughts entered his mind.  
"Why are you acting so normal?" Sam asked matter of factly.  
"HA!" Mikey laughed, ignoring Sam's odd actions and just assuming she was being the goof that she was.  
This got her to smile some.  
'Bless your dorkiness of never knowing what the heck is going Michelangelo' she thought to herself.  
"Anyway" Jay began as he slightly nudged his sister off of him, "so I don't know how much Sam has told you, but you guys have more people on your side than you realize."  
"She's made that part clear-" Leo began.  
"Yeah but Leo never let Sam actually explain what all the means" Raph cut in.  
"Yeahhhh he always told her to drop the subject" Mikey added.  
"Thanks guys. Really helpful" Leo mumbled as he rolled his eyes. Man his brothers never let ANYTHING go, now did they?  
"Are these people going to help us now?" Donnie asked.  
Jay nodded with a confident smile.  
"When April called earlier she didn't just mention what happened to her and Casey after they were arrested, she also mentioned that she had been in contact with Jade, aka Chief Vincent's right hand man, well woman in this case."  
Raph gave Jay a strange look, and Jay easily knew what this meant.  
"I know what you're thinking," he reassured the large stiff looking turtle, "you think we can't trust the chief's wingman after what happened the other night. But what you don't realize is that she's been on our side the entire time."  
Slight shock was expressed by all four turtles at the sound of this.  
"But, she was holding her gun to us just like all the other officers, why would she do that if she's with us?" Mikey murmured.  
Now Sam spoke up. "Remember that girl that talked to you guys through the walkies during the fall of the Foot?"  
The turtles paused and then nodded as they remembered the young voice that directed them throughout the night as they unlocked cells in order to free innocent people that night.  
"That voice, that was Jade's sister" Sam said with a smile, knowing that the wheels would be turning in each of the heads of her friends. Even Mikey displayed a jaw dropped-open mouthed expression which showed even he understood what was going on for once.  
"Jade's a double agent" Donnie stated, "she works for you guys but also gets info from the general police."  
"Bingo" Jay said with a nod. "Once she found out that her sister was captured for her bright mind she instantly started doing some undercover work behind Vincent's back. Shredder would allow people to still see their families on certain occasions, so Lindsay and Jade would act like they were just going out for coffee and really they were working together to help get her and everyone else out of being forced Foot. Once the NYFS formed, she began updating them with whatever information she could get their hands on."  
"But…that still doesn't explain why she would hold her gun towards us if she's on our side" Mikey stated, confused by the woman's actions.  
"Remember I told you about the code that ex Foot use to help each other out of sticky situations? She looked right at me and recognized me, and her shouting to us to freeze as she looked me right in the eye was a signal that no one in that room knew the code, and stating it would just give away my identity and put us in further danger."  
Mikey then resumed his shocked expression as he now realized how the woman was actually helping them after all.  
"Can she help us now?" Raph asked.  
"She already has been" Jay responded. He then turned to Sam and poked her hard on the forehead. "And youuuuuuu owe her a huge thank you for keeping your cover safe for the time being."  
Sam winced at the contact and rubbed her head as her brother continued to talk.  
"Vincent wanted crime scene units doing everything they could to figure out who you were and she hid the footage before anyone could reach it. You owe her big time for something like that. She could lose her job you idiot."  
"I know, I know, continue on with what's happening and ridicule me later" Sam groaned, still rubbing her forehead.  
Jay continued to update the group on what was happening.  
"So literally minutes after what happened that night, Jade called me and updated me on what happened…well she left a voicemail because I was tasting ridiculous amounts of food and wine for my wedding, but in the voicemail she made it clear that for you guys to show your faces like that, something major was either going to happen, or had already started. Instantly she started calling people in the NYFS that could get some work done that would help you out in the long run, and the way things are going she was obviously spot on in thinking that since you need to quickly gain the cops trust right now. When April called me earlier she put herself and Jade on speaker. They both confirmed that everyone we need to clear your names is available right now and if you need the cops then we can discuss a meeting place and everything."  
The four turtles were speechless. This woman they had never met, these people they had never met, were all ready and waiting to be called at any second to help them?  
"Wait, why would these people just be standing around for us? They don't even know us!" Raph proclaimed.  
"In all due respect, I feel the same way" Donnie muttered, "how did we go from just being called monsters to having people waiting to help us the second we ask?"  
Jay shook his head.  
"You've always had people waiting to help you the second you needed it, Sam I thought you told them this" Jay said as he then turned toward his sister.  
The girl's eyes were wide and her voice slightly rose from frustration.  
"I did! And every time I did Le-"  
"Don't remind me" Leo said as he slowly dragged his hand down his face. "Obviously I won't shut down whatever you have to say this time, and it's clear we have more allies than we could have ever imagined."  
To this his brothers nodded in agreement.  
"So what happens?" Donnie asked. "You give Jade the call and we just meet the cops?"  
"Basically, yes. I call Jade and Casey, they talk to Vincent and set up the meeting place, we instantly get everyone else to meet up at that spot. How much time do we have before that machine is built?" Jay asked as he turned towards Donatello.  
Donnie removed a device from his shoulder and fidgeted with the buttons so that the device was now linked to his monitor. He scanned over the information from the cameras used earlier.  
"It looks like it's taking a while for all the pieces to come through, but we don't have time to play around either. That meeting needs to happen in literal minutes for us to actually have time to work together with the cops and get to a spot where we can reach the portal in time to stop the Technodrome from finishing construction."  
"Calls are being made now, gather whatever gear you think you'll need" Jay said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and instantly began dialing numbers.

The three oldest turtles began walking towards the weapons storage near the dojo behind them, Mikey however continued to stand in his spot.  
Now that Sam wasn't super nervous about talking to the brothers anymore, and also realizing that the only way to forget about those awkward thoughts would be to just act natural and talk to the guys like she always did, she walked over to the uncharacteristically timid turtle and tilted her body so that her face was now in front of his.  
"Hey, what's on your mind?" she asked genuinely.  
His breaths were slow and silent.  
"What if…what if something goes wrong and they still think we're monsters?"  
Sam stood up straight. "Mikey"  
"I believe you guys that Jade and others are on our side, but, obviously not everyone is if those cops took one look at us and reacted that way. What if having a few people support us isn't enough?" he said, his hands slightly shaking from the worry of being looked at with fear and disgust once again.  
His hands only calmed once Sam put her hands on his shoulders.  
"Hey, I'll be by your side the entire time. Jay will be by your side, April, and Casey, and Jade, and others will be to. You don't need everyone on your side, just the ones that have been with you since the beginning. You have human family that will risk their lives for you, so screw everyone else. We ride or die till the end my brotha" she said with a smirk.  
Mikey nodded his head and his posture became much more relaxed.  
"Thank god I have you to remind me of the important things in life. True family, music, comic books, video games, and pizza."  
"Ahhh that's my boy" she said putting her fist forward for a fist bump. "Now let's go, we'll be leaving literally now since Jay is waving to us so hurry up and sprint" she said as the two packed up in seconds and rushed out of the lair with the others.

 ***12:25p.m. At a back alley near the police station***

Jay went up first and exited through the manhole cover above so that he could quickly talk to the others up above. The group felt nervous being so close to the police station once again, but it was one of Vincent's requests in order to officially meet the turtles. She also requested they bring the "blue eyed girl" with them. Jade had warned them to be prepared for any surprise 'needs' or 'requests' that the chief would surprise them with, so this also made the boys a tad bit nervous. Donnie's turtle com rang and they heard Jay and April confirm that it was time for the group to rise to the surface, so slowly they each climbed the ladder and exited through the manhole covers.

There were two manhole covered exits the groups could exit through, both covers being one in front of the other. Leo exited the front cover while Raph simultaneously exited through the back cover. Right behind Leo was Sam, and right behind her was Mikey. Donnie exited from the back cover right after Raph had made it to the surface. Before they even took in their surroundings, the boys formed a tight square shaped formation around Sam so in case anything were to go wrong she would have four tough barriers for the cops to go through before they could get to her. Leo and Mikey stood at the front of the formation, with Donnie behind Mikey and Raph behind Leo, leaving Sam to be somewhat squished in the middle. Once the boys got in formation, they finally took a look around.  
They noticed that both ends of the alley way were blocked off by police vans and trucks, and in front of and on all those vehicles were lines of armed soldiers with riot gear. Donnie happened to turn around and look up and he gulped when he saw even more armed soldiers in the walkways up above that lead to the apartments. After seeing this number of cops, the boys were grateful that Sam had worn a jacket with a hood covering her head and that she happened to have her mask on her that covered her mouth and nose, only revealing her now brown colored eyes.  
In front of the group was Chief Vincent who stood behind the row of soldiers. Next to her on both sides were April, Casey, Vern, Jade, and Jay, along with a mix of some familiar and brand new faces.

The group began to slowly walk forward, Mikey and Leo keeping their hands up just too be safe and signal that they would not attack or cause any harm.  
Each of the four turtles was cautious, nervous, scared of the slightest thing going wrong and a negative reaction leading to chaos.  
They heard the sounds of guns shifting, but they were even more shocked (and so was Chief Vincent who displayed an extremely shocked expression) when Jade called out for the officers to hold their fire.

Vincent took a step forward so that she was now in front of the line of officers. She spoke and looked as if she were in a dream and couldn't fathom what was actually happening right in front of her.  
"What are you?" she asked.  
"They're frogs" Sam mumbled under her breath as she rolled her eyes. Was it really that difficult to tell what they were? Luckily no one heard her but the group surrounding her, but that didn't stop Raph and Donnie from nudging her anyway  
Mikey looked at the woman solemnly.  
"We're not really into labels" he said softly, looking back and forth between the pavement and the woman in front of him due to honestly being terrified of her.  
"Some call us freaks, monsters" Leo stated in a more serious tone.  
"Let's just say we're four brothers from New York who hate bullies, and love this city" Raph admitted proudly.  
"And right now we're this city's best hope" Donnie added, trying to act confident though coming off a bit timid as well.

Chief Vincent scoffed and displayed a fake smile.  
"And why should I believe you?" she asked.  
Leo pointed to one of the men standing next to her.  
"Don't take it from us, take it from him" he said as all eyes were now staring at Vern.  
"Go on Vern, tell her" April encouraged.  
At first Vern just stood there frozen solid, but the sound of Raph loudly cracking his knuckles made him turn his head towards the turtles, and then he not only saw Raph's pissed expression, but also Leo's and Mikey's face which clearly said "are you serious? You better now bail on us now."  
"Ohhhhhh right!" Vern said with an awkward smile as he then faced the chief. "So, the Falcon will always be the falcon, but…look. I got help from my friends. These 4 are the ones who took Shredder down the first time. Me, I was more of just a wingman."

Vincent looked back and forth between Vern and the rest of the people surrounding her.  
"Are you serious? There's no way I'm trusting these guys with just a confession and absolutely no proof."  
"Well then let me introduce to you exhibit B" Jay announced as he handed the chief a stack of papers.  
"And what is this?" she scoffed.  
"Signatures" proclaimed a familiar voice. Emerging from the crowd of officers came Kris, Brenda's younger brother and soon to be brother in law to Jay. Even after Vincent completely disowned Vern's confession, seeing Kris's face made the turtles smile. They hadn't seen him since the day they all worked together to free the citizens from being forced Foot members.  
"I'm sorry, what?" the chief replied.  
"Signatures, 1,000 to be exact. All from people who either were, or were related to ex forced Foot. Each signature is a person putting their life on the line to represent their past life and that they're willing to expose that to save these four. Oh, and that goes along with the 500 letters underneath that, all from the same people. My favorite is from a young mother who wants to thank 'the biggest one in red who doesn't want to be called Mr.' for saving her and her daughter the night everything happened."  
After saying this, Kris looked directly at Raph, curious to see if he remembered the woman he was talking about, and Raph's beaming smile answered that question right away.

Chief Vincent was impressed, but she still wanted more evidence.  
She was about to make this known, but Casey interrupted her.  
"And knowing you, you need more than that. So now I introduce you to exhibit C."  
He then waved forward a man who looked to be just a tad younger than Casey who had darker black hair, and a girl who seemed to be about the same age as Sam.  
"Who're they?" Leo whispered softly, leaning back just a hair so that he could ask Sam his question.  
"Jaxon and Sofia Jones, although we call her Shadow. They're Casey's cousins."  
"What are they doing here?" Raph grunted lowly.  
"They're some of our top record keepers. Right now they're showing files to Chief Vincent of every time you've saved the city to date. Well, at least every time THEY know of that is."  
This made all four turtles turn and turn around to face her.  
"You keep records of that?" Leo asked aloud.  
Sam shrugged. "Well yeah, we have records of pretty much everything. Including the video footage that Lindsay is showing the chief now of you guys freeing people the night the Foot fell."  
All four turtles turned around to see that jade had now introduced exhibit D, her younger sister Lindsay.  
Seconds later all these new and familiar faces walked over to greet the turtles, leaving the chief to discuss with Casey and April.  
"Well, well. Looks like we finally get to meet in person" Lindsay said as she confidently placed her hand out in front of Leo. He was still for a moment since he had never exactly been greeted like this before, but then joined in and shook her hand. She then went down the line and made sure that she greeted each of the brothers and then flicked Sam in the forehead.  
"Man, you've really out done yourself in drilling yourself into some serious shit" she teased.  
"What? Doesn't everybody send officers flying against the wall?" she replied in the same tone.  
"No" Jade said as she stormed over. "You idiot" she whispered, "I could lose my job after everything I've done for you to keep your identity hidden, what the hell were you thinking?" she asked while also flicking Sam in the forehead.  
Sam glared back up at the woman.  
"Your officers called them monsters. You can't do that! Especially to this one!" she said as she pulled Mikey in close to emphasize which turtle she meant.  
"Hi" Mikey said delightfully.  
"He's sensitive" Sam stated bluntly.  
"Heyyyy."  
"Don't hate it, embrace it" Sam encouraged.  
Jade displayed a dreary look.  
"I'm truly sorry about that, to all of you" she said as she looked each of the brother's right in the eye. "I assure you there are hundreds of people who think the complete opposite, including myself, and know what heroes you all truly are.  
"Agreed" Shadow stated. "And finally people besides Sam can finally tell you that" she said as she also went down the line and also shook each of the brothers hands, with her older brother Jaxon right behind her.  
"Since Sam has probably never ever told you a single thing about us, I'm Shadow. You'll never hear or see me coming, so watch out cause you never know when I'm around" she teased, receiving a genuine smile from each of the brothers.  
"Nice to finally meet you guys, my name is Jaxon. One of the best archers you'll ever meet. Thank you for saving us, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."  
The turtles were shocked to be greeted this way. Never in their wildest dreams would they have thought they would be talked to this way after the way the cops had reacted to them just days before.  
Finally, Kris got his chance to reunite with the guys.  
"Hey, how's it going?" Mikey said as he put his hand out for a handshake.  
Kris, being just as much of a dork as Michelangelo was, shook his head.  
"No way dude, we've already met. Daps and hugs only" he said with a smile as he completed these gesture with each of the guys. "It's good to finally see you guys again, since that one there hogs you all to herself" he said as he playfully glared at Sam, who responded to him the same way.

"Alright get back all of you" Chief Vincent declared. Each person the turtles had just talked too walked back and stood behind the line of officers once more, not wanting to get on the chief's bad side.  
"*Sigh* well you definitely brought a lot of good evidence with you, but there's only one thing I need in order for us to partner up. I want the girl" she said as she glared at Sam who was still covered from her hood and mask.  
"Nope!"  
"Nu-uh!"  
"Not a chance!"  
"Absolutely not!"  
Each of the four turtles took a step inwards so that they were standing even closer to Sam as they each made it clear they weren't giving her up.  
"Guys. Guys I can't breathe like this" Sam groaned.  
"Shut up you're fine" Raph grunted, ready to fight anyone that would try to lay a hand on the girl.  
The chief was shocked to see how serious all four of the turtles became. Seconds ago they were shaking hands and laughing as they talked to the other humans, yet now they were 100% on defensive mode as if they were ready to attack at any moment.

"Donnie" Sam mumbled.  
"Not now" he replied, assuming she was trying to make another comical comment.  
"Donnie" she said again, but this time there was worry in her tone.  
"What?"  
"They're getting bigger" she said as she pointed upward.  
Now all eyes of everyone in that area were staring up at the huge chunks of metal pieces that were beginning to connect together as more and more pieces of the Technodrome were entering the city through the portal.  
"Enough of this!" Jade and Casey ironically said at the same time.  
"Chief," Jade pleaded, "does it really matter who this girl is? She was only protecting her friends whom we wrongly accused!"  
"And it's clear we need them if we want to stop whatever that is, which I'm pretty sure will start attacking us soon" Casey added.  
Chief Vincent looked back at the girl and decided that now was not the time.  
"Fine, leave her be for now."  
Leo nodded. "We've been doing our part to protect this city, from the shadows. And we think we have something to offer."  
Chief Vincent began rounding up her officers and nodded towards the turtles, officiating that she and her officers would provide the turtles with whatever they would need to stop the alien war machine forming up above.

The guys circled together for one final team huddle.  
"We're gonna need strategy" Raph said, putting his hand in the middle of the group as a huge smile was beaming from his face.  
"Instinct" Leo added with the exact same expression.  
"Logic" Mikey added with confidence.  
"And boat loads of heart" Donnie added with the same enthusiasm as his brothers.  
They then all looked over at Sam who had taken a step back.  
"Well?" Leo asked.  
"I don't know if you noticed, but you were given the green light to get support from the cops. I'm still being hunted."  
"Get over here" Donnie said as he and Mikey basically pulled and forced Sam into the huddle.  
"You're still joining us you dweeb" Raph said mockingly.  
"You're just gonna meet through an alternate route" Leo added with a confident grin.  
Sam smiled and added her hand to the group. "Sticking to the shadows till the end" she said and all five of them threw their hands up together.

That fast Sam ducked back and went back underground. As she was climbing down the ladder she could hear the chief talking to Leo about her sudden disappearance, to which she heard Leo state that this wasn't her fight and instead she was going to remain in a safe space they had showed he underground. She then listened as Donnie told Chief Vincent that Jay, April, Casey, and Vern all needed an escort to Pier 90 where the electromagnetic force of the portal was coming from. She then heard Leo inform the chief to send a team to help the turtles enter the Chrysler building without being seen so that they could fight Krang on his own turf.  
She was about to search for the buildings coordinates so that she could get there first and meet up with the guys once they also reached the building, but before she could even activate her device she had already received a message from Donnie with the buildings coordinates.  
Sam shook her head and smiled. That boy always thought of everything before anyone else could even take a second to breathe.  
That fast Sam began sprinting throughout the tunnels of the sewers and within a couple minutes she had reached an alley way near the Chrysler building. She still stood underground and she peeked through the crack of the cover and noticed that cops were already ushering people out, or they were keeping them hidden away safely within areas inside the building. They were doing everything they could so that no one would see the turtles when they entered.

Sam felt her phone go off in the pocket of her backpack and she answered it quickly.  
"Hey Jaxon, I see you got my message."  
" _Yeah, I'm outside of the Hyatt Hotel now. You still want to enter this way?"  
_ While she was running, Sam had contacted Jaxon and instructed him to pretend to be an officer who was escorting her inside one of the buildings. That way it didn't look as strange to walk around dressed up the way she was. If people thought she was dressed that way with a cop walking in front of her then she hoped people would assume she was in danger and in need of the escort, at least that was what she was going to go with.  
"I was going to, but the crowds out there are huge. I'll meet you outside the hotel, but we're going to enter a different building. You have your disguise ready?"  
" _Badges, tags, cards. Everything is all here. Man Casey would be so proud of me right now."  
_ Sam laughed. "He'll be even prouder if this works and you can get me in. Meet me in front of the hotel in 30 seconds."

Sam lifted the manhole cover so that she was now standing in an alley way between the back of the Hyatt hotel and the Equinox East building. She then quickly made her way around the side of the building and maneuvered through the crowds of people along the street until she had met up with Jaxon in the front of the hotel. She nodded her head to the side and the two crossed the street once it was safe to do so.  
"So what's the plan?" he asked in a whisper.  
"I was going to enter this building and once I got high enough, just fly up to the 61st floor where the eagles are. That's where Donnie told me to meet them. But I can't jump across from building to building over an open street like this, especially when it's ten times more crowded than usual."  
"So where are we going?" he asked as they were now passing the crowd of people standing outside the Chrysler building.  
The two were now walking along East 42nd Street towards another tall office building at the end of the street.  
"At the end of this street is another office building that's shorter than Chrysler. I checked online and couldn't find the name for the building, so it's not an iconic image like its partnering structure. That means security should be a bit easier to slip by. I'm going to get to the top of that building and then travel over to the Chrysler building. It'll be easier to do so without being spotted since there's no road or walkways in between the two buildings and also because I'll be leaping towards the back of the Chrysler building as well. Apparently no one cares about the back of the building since there's no images of that online either."  
Just then the two heard the police cars come speeding down the road and begin to park themselves in front of the building. The guys had finally arrived.  
Jaxon nodded his head.  
"Sounds like a solid plan. Let's do this."

The two entered the office building and just as Sam hoped, getting past security was a breeze. Jaxon lead her to a stairwell within the building and closed the door.  
"I guess this is where we part for now. Please be careful. I know how younger sisters can get" he stated, thinking about how worried he always is of his own younger sister who loves to fight and bring justice when she can.  
"I always try my best" Sam said as she swung her arms back and forth, preparing herself for the upcoming fights.  
"Good luck" Jaxon said as he then exited the stairwell, and as soon as he shut the door, Sam's eyes went black and blue as she held her hands downwards and used her wind powers to launch herself all the way to the top of the staircase.  
Once she reached the top floor she opened the door that lead her to the roof. She wanted to save her powers as best as she could now that she knew she had limits to using them, and quickly used a grappling gun to help her reach the 61st floor of the opposite building.  
She looked around and noticed the guys weren't anywhere to be seen. Assuming that they had beaten her to the spot and had already headed over towards the ship, she shrugged and then took a running start as she then leaped onto one of the larger flying pieces that was heading up towards the Technodrome.

Within seconds she was now standing on the grounds of the Technodrome. She guessed that within minutes the machine would be completely built, so she quickly but cautiously walked further and further towards the center of the ship in hopes of quickly joining the fight and helping her friends, but then she suddenly stopped. She grabbed her tonfa from the side pockets of her bag after sensing something make her stop moving, but she lost her grip and dropped both of them as soon as she had picked them up.  
What was this? It was as if something had taken control of her.  
Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. She felt the blood running through her veins…no, she felt the mutagen running through her veins, and when she looked down she could literally see the blue streaks because they were enlarged and emphasized on her skin.  
Something was controlling the mutagen and therefore controlling her body.

And that's when she saw them.  
One was huge and seemed like a giant compared to her small frame, the other was probably the same size as the turtles. Both bodies were made of metal, and there were brain looking figures coming out of them.  
The smaller of the two bodies pressed a button on a lever and Sam was slammed down onto her knees.  
"FINALLY! I can test out my device!" the smaller one called out.  
Sam felt dizzy even though her body was still kneeling upright. Then suddenly, everything went dark. As all her senses began to fade, the last thing she held onto was the sound of the larger bodies voice.  
"Yesssss, it's so nice to finally meet you. The perfect mutagen match."

 **OKAY so I know people say you should only write about topics you know about, stay away from things you don't know about, etc. So of course I do the opposite because I want to write a story about my favorite characters ever and of course they live in a state in which I have never been to EVER.  
IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO FIGURE OUT HOW THE HELL I WAS GETTING SAM TO THE TOP OF THAT BUILDING XD  
Like I hope everything made sense and was realistic because I wanted her entrance to the top of the Chrysler building to make sense and not have her just magically appear when hundreds of people easily could have seen her.  
So I hope you enjoyed the twists I have added to the original movie scenes. If there's anything wrong with my transitions or how Sam got to where she did then please leave me some criticism. **

**But all in all I hope you liked this chapter** **Stay tuned for the next one!**


	44. Chapter 44

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #44

 ***Monday June 8** **th** **, 2015. Around 12:35p.m. In the police truck***

The turtles were trying to calm their minds as they sat in the police van that was rushing towards the Chrysler building.  
Leo and Donnie were both staring at screens inside the van that displayed news reports of the events that were occurring in the sky up above.  
Raph was pacing back and forth as he usually did, the best thing that could be done to calm him down.  
Mikey was just looking out the windows at all the people in the crowds that were standing along the street, wondering how they would all react if something happened where the van stopped and they had to exit right then and there.

Each of their focus on whatever it was they were doing was broken as Chief Vincent stepped over towards them and informed them that she had tactile gear, weapons, and communications standing by in case the boys needed anything.  
The youngest three were rendered speechless. They had just been granted permission by the strict chief to work with the police in order to stop the foreign aliens invading their planet, so they were shocked that she had now switched over to such a cooperative state.  
"All we need is cover to get up there. When we do, we've gotta find that beacon that's drawing all those pieces together" Leo stated as he pointed back towards the small television screen that displayed all the flying pieces that were connecting to the Technodrome.  
Donnie stepped forward and continued to explain.  
"If we can send that beacon back to where it came from and April, Casey, Jay, and Vern can close that portal on our command-"  
"Goodbye Technodrome" Mikey stated with a relaxed smile.  
"Goodbye Krang" Raph added with a confident smirk.  
He then looked towards each of his brothers before asking "team effort?"  
Then each brother looked towards their remaining brothers.  
"Team effort" they all said as they nodded to each other, signaling that they were all on the same page and that they would all have each other's backs.

It was 12:35 p.m. when the police van pulled up in front of the Chrysler building. The turtles were instructed by the chief to wait for her to wave them outside, that way they didn't leave the vehicle too soon and then accidentally expose themselves. The chief and Jade exited the vehicle and seconds later she sent the boys her signal. As they made their way out of the van they heard Jade announce to the officers to stand tightly together as they formed their barricade. Meanwhile, Chief Vincent whispered to each of them to exit and make their way into the building while keeping the upper halves of their bodies ducked down.  
Each of the brothers crouched down and stood between the lines of soldiers that stood around them with their shields held up high, blocking all outside viewers line of sight. They slowly but steadily crept across the street and then finally made it to the black marble doors of the building.

As soon as they had safely entered the building the boys began running down the hall of the triangular lobby looking for the nearest elevator that would lead them to the 61st floor which was high enough for where they needed to be to board Krangs ship.  
While each of them was focused on their mission, they couldn't help but take in all of their surroundings within the short distance they would end up running. They had entered a few different buildings at night in secret with Sam, but they had never been in such a beautiful setting before, and especially not during the daytime. The walls were a golden color, and the glare from the sunlight outside truly made every spot of the walls shine so brightly.  
There were different textures along the walls due to the various steels, granites, and marbles from around the world that were used to make them.  
There were dazzling chandeliers that hung from the ceiling and lit up every corner of the room, adding to the beams of sunlight shinning in from the three entry ways.  
And up above them was a beautiful mural that coated the entire ceiling above them.

The entrance they had entered was straight across from the elevator, so the four only had mere seconds to observe what was around them before they had entered the elevator.  
Leo was standing in the front left spot with Mikey right behind him. Next to Leo was Donnie, who had Raph standing right behind him.  
"Whoaaaaaa, what is this place used for?" Mikey asked as they entered the moving room.  
Donnie, being the know it all nerd that he was, was thrilled to answer this question.  
"This building is the home to offices used for over 80 different businesses from financial firms to dental offices" he said with way more enthusiasm then he meant to.  
Leo laughed. "You're excited to be in this building, aren't you Donnie?"  
"Ohhhh you have no idea" Donnie said with a huge smile. "This is my first time being in this building and yet I could give an entire tour talking about the past and present of it. I could tell you guys the entire story about this place!"  
"Thanks but no thanks" Raph groaned. He was about to fight who knows what type of alien, so he didn't need one of his brother's boring info-lectures to make him fall asleep right before the big fight.  
"Well I'LL listen to you bro!" Mikey said, pointing to himself to emphasize that he would be the nice brother and listen to his nerdy brother ramble on and on.  
Donnie chuckled. "Thanks Mikey, but I'd need Sam with me to help keep you focused."

The group then paused. An awkward silence fell over the elevator car as the group realized that they would have to worry about Sam after the fight.  
"What do you think the chief is gonna do to her?" Raph asked softly.  
"We can't turn her in" Mikey said as he rapidly shook his head, "she finally just got her future back once the Foot fell."  
"We know Mikey, don't worry. We would never turn her over so easily" Leo said solemnly. He then sighed. "We'll discuss all that with her afterwards."  
"We'll find a way to keep her safe" Donnie said, turning around and nodding towards all of his brothers. "We'll figure out something. Who knows, maybe once the chief sees that we can protect everyone then maybe she'll hear us out about what happened with Sam that night and maybe she'll ease up."  
"Doubt it, she seems stricter than Leo and Sensei combined" Raph grumbled, crossing his arms. The chief had been kind to them, but he didn't trust that she was on ALL five of their sides just yet.  
"Raph, you have to stay positive" Leo said as he turned back to face his brother. He gently nudge his arm to get Raph to look up and face him as he spoke. "She eventually gave us a chance even though we look like this" he said as he waved his hand down his body. "If she could eventually trust 'the monsters' then I'm sure she'll come around and trust a fellow human."  
Raph huffed. "I hope your right, or else we're gonna have the cops hating us again."  
"Raph" Donnie began.  
"He's right" Mikey cut in. "If she doesn't come around then its game over. Sam's safety comes first, even if that means her hiding underground with us."  
"And take away the future she deserves?" Leo asked with wide eyes.  
"Unfortunately if the chief wants nothing but to lock Sam up, then her future is gone regardless Leo" Donnie stated in a hushed voice.  
Leo closed his eyes so they were shut tight. "In that case then we'll have to fight against Sam."  
Raph snapped his head to look back towards his brothers, his brow furrowed from confusion and anger. "Wait, what?!"  
"He's right" Mikey mumbled. "If Sam knew that not turning herself in would cause harm to our relationship with the cops then she would do it in a heartbeat. She'd do anything to keep us safe, ANYTHING."  
"She didn't even care when we closed in on her after the chief told us to hand her over" Donnie said softly, clutching onto the straps of his backpack, "she just played it off like it was no big deal."  
"She was probably ready to turn herself in then and there. If we weren't nearby then she would have done it" Leo stated, clenching his fists. He hated to think that Sam would give herself up so easily, but he strongly agreed with Mikey that Sam would do anything if it meant keeping the four of them safe.  
Raph shook his head. "We're her biggest weakness, or at least one of them" he mumbled.  
Donnie's head then shot up. "Jay has connections though, with all types of people. If the chief won't listen to us then she has to listen to hundreds of peoples outcries."  
Leo looked over and noticed they were close to their destination of the 61st floor and decided that they needed to drop this depressing conversation in order to maintain their confident and collected morale.  
"We'll discuss this later when we meet back up with Sam, and when Krangs down. Right now we need to keep our heads in the game."  
Raph began swinging his arms back and forth, needing to move in some way to keep himself calm and focused.  
Mikey began bobbing back and forth on his feet, reminding himself to act as swift as a shadow in the night, or in this case to act as a ghost that couldn't be seen from moving so fast during the day.  
Donnie took a few deep breaths and began shaking his wrists.  
Leo rolled his shoulders some, trying to remain calm and focus on the task at hand.

Finally, the doors opened.  
Donnie was the first one to quickly and swiftly exit the elevator. He was followed by Leo, then Raph, and then Mikey.  
They each stepped off the elevator and now walked along the outside walkway along that floor.  
Donnie hopped up onto one of the Eagles protruding from the corner of the building. He placed his goggles over his eyes in order to scan the progress of the machine that was being built.  
"This thing is about 57% complete. If we don't stop it now then it's going to be ready to go in less than 15 minutes."  
Mikey had been taking in the gorgeous view since he had never seen such a high-up view during the day, but hearing how soon this machine would be built drew back his focus.  
"Guys, what are we waiting for?" he asked.  
"Um, Sam?" Raph stated.  
Mikey's eyes went wide. He felt like such an idiot! How could he not have realized that they couldn't proceed without their sister?!  
"She'll have to head over there by herself, we need to move now!" Donnie announced.  
Raph and Mikey froze, not liking the sound of her traveling all the way over towards the Technodrome by herself.  
"Guys" Leo stated calmly, "we know Sam has limits when using her powers, but she hasn't used them much yet, so if she needs to rely on them then she'll be fine. You guys know how tough she is" he said with confidence.  
The looked at each other and smiled, agreeing with their older brothers words.  
Leo then looked towards Raph.  
"You got this?" he asked, remembering his brother's fear of heights.  
Raph stood up onto the ledge of the walkway and looked down at the sights below him. Although he was up very uncomfortably high up, there was plenty for him to land on with all those giant pieces flying by.  
"Yeah, I got this" he said with a smirk as he then locked his eyes onto a larger flying piece and then leaped off the ledge screaming "Surf's up New York!"  
Soon after, each of his brothers did the same thing as they then landed on their own huge floating machine piece.  
Each of the boys soaked in this rare moment and took in the sights. It was an odd time to feel this way, but man the view from here was incredible!

Donnie was the first one to reach the outer layers of the Technodrome.  
He quickly activated one of the scanners located along his shoulder and began locating whatever would be considered the 'off switch' to the giant machine in front of him.  
Leo and Raph arrived soon after.  
Seconds later Mikey joined up behind them just in time to hear Donnie state that according to his ultrasonic scanners the beacon was located somewhere near the command module that was a few hundred feet ahead.  
"Okay, we gotta stop this thing from completing" Leo stated.  
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Raph asked.  
"Let's start with whatever that thing is" Leo said as he pointed forward.  
Donnie quickly put his goggles on in order to scan what looked like a giant robot rising up from the inside of the machine. His scanners picked up some type of life force within the robot.  
He placed his goggles back on top his head.  
"That must be Krang" he stated.  
"Alright guys, fall in!" Leo announced as he went to take the lead, but paused when he noticed his youngest brother not paying attention.  
"Mikey, you ready?"  
"I still don't see her" Mikey stated, his body still turned around. The entire way over he kept turning back to see if Sam had made it to the walkway from the building, yet she was still nowhere to be seen. He just knew that something was wrong, yet he kept standing there, hoping and waiting that she would just appear and prove that his worries were wrong.  
Leo wanted to wait for Sam just as badly as Mikey did, but sadly they were running out of time to just wait.  
"She can't be much further behind us Mikey, she'll be here soon. Let's get whatever that thing is in there warmed up so that she has less work to do" he said, gently nudging his brother's shoulder as a means to make him relax.  
Mikey took a breath and nodded his head, and with that, all four brothers then leaped down and rolled onto the main frame of the machine. They were cautious as they ran down the strip leading into the center of the upper outside layer of the Technodrome, staying aware of any traps that were sprung on them. However, each of them ran down the strip with ease, and then when they expected to be attacked as they leaped up onto the main platform where the robot was located, there was still nothing. Each of them stood frozen still, waiting for something to attack…yet still nothing.  
Each of them relaxed some as they removed themselves from their fighting stances and walked further ahead towards the robot.  
"It's not that bad, it's just a dumb robot" Raph stated.  
"Yeah, I was expecting way worse" Mikey said as he stood a little too close to the metal being.  
"And what would that look like?" Raph questioned.  
"I dunno" Mikey replied as he knocked on a glass section near the stomach of the robot. He looked inside the open space, but saw only a gap with nothing in it. "I was expecting like a mustache maybe. An evil goatee or something, you know what I'm saying?"

As those final words left his mouth, a disgusting slimy figure slammed itself against the glass on the inside of what had been an open space. Big purple eyes were glaring at a now screaming Michelangelo.  
Mikey jumped back and scooted as far away from the robot as he could as a brain looking figure emerged from the inside, flapping his two tentacle like arms in front of him.  
"Ahhhhh! It's like a chewed up piece of gum, with a face!"  
Leo and Raph already had they weapons in hand the second they heard their brother even begin to scream.  
The brain, assumed to be Krang, stepped forward in his robot body.  
"I'll only tell you once, GET OFF MY SHIP!"

"Donnie," Leo said as he quickly spoke to his brother, "get to the console, let's send this jacked up disco ball back where it came from."  
Donnie nodded and the four were about to leap into action, but then Krang decided that he still had something to say.  
"Not leaving eh? Guess that means I do get to play with the rest of you."  
Although hearing 'the rest of you' sent a huge shiver down each of the turtle's spines, they each remained in displaying their 'ready to fight' stance. They didn't want to show any weakness in case this was a trap.  
"Oh I'm sorry" Krang continued, "was I not clear? I guess I need to show you what I've done with her so that you can see what's going to happen to all of you."  
Krang pressed a button on the belt of the robot and a figure began to teleport in front of him.  
The boys tried their best to remain calm, but their hearts sank at what they saw in front of them.

The figure that appeared in front of them was none other than Sam, but it was obvious that she was no longer herself. Her eyes were in their mutated blue and black colors, but there was now a red dot in the center of her blue pupil, and there was an additional red line that separated the blue color from the black. Sam was glaring at the turtles in front of her as if they had been enemies all along.  
"What did you do?" Mikey asked sternly.  
He made sure to remain in his serious and un-phased stance, but he needed to know what was happening before he just jumped into a fight with his best friend, his sister.

"It's marvelous actually. For years I sent all types of mutagen that my armies back home had concocted to Shredder, knowing that in his quest for power he would test them out on human lifeforms. This made my life easier as I just sat back and watched what combinations of mutagen had what types of effects on the human race. I waited to find people who would match with some of the more complicated doses of mutagen that could only match with select beings, and your friend happened to be the perfect match to one of those specific types of mutagen. This mutagen allows me to control someone through mental abilities, meaning I can control them through their brain. The fact that it connected with and emphasized the powers of wind and strength through other mutagens she had injected into her body is just a bonus for me when I get to control her mind."

The turtles couldn't believe this. Every time they felt that they had a better understanding of what Sam's powers meant and what the mutagen running through her veins could do, they were then thrown a new and even more insane curve ball. They had literally just learned that the mutagen affected her temporal lobe and her emotions, and now, and in the worst way possible, they were informed that this mutagen could also be used by the controller to mess with her brain even more.  
"Hehehe, let's see what fun we can have" Krang said with a wicked smile.  
Sam began storming towards the group, but Michelangelo wasn't going to let this bullshit fly so easily. He quickly reached into his pocket and grabbed a box that was smaller than his hand with a lid that he flipped open. There were two buttons on either side of the box. One was connected to a tiny microphone located inside the box, the other, to a small round metal piece on the inside strap of Sam's backpack which she thankfully was still wearing.  
Mikey pressed both buttons, activating the microphone and the round piece on the strap of the bag.  
"Execute order 66!" he shouted.  
Sam was stopped as the controller heard this and sensed the metal piece pop off from the bag's strap and then connect with the girl's chest. She was commanded to freeze because the controller was confused as to what just happened.  
"Did you just order her to kill all the Jedi?!" Donnie shouted.  
"Wait, what?!" Raph bellowed.  
"Mikey!" Leo shouted.  
"She said it wouldn't kill her, it would just stun her!" Mikey shouted.  
"WHAT?!" the brother's shouted, but just then Sam started screaming in pain

Sam had always discussed secret techniques with each of the brothers so that they could help keep her safe if she could not do so herself, and vice versa. In this case, Sam had developed a small controller (the box) that had a chip with a recording of Mikey saying the phrase he just had. This, along with pressing the second button, would activate a small round piece on the inner strap of Sam's backpack to launch off the bag and press onto her. The material of her bag would prevent any of her electronics from being ruined, but the piece would send an electric shock throughout her body. She made sure (through lots of gruesome testing) that the shock would not be strong enough to kill her, but it would be strong enough to stun her body.  
Sam screamed out in pain, her hands grabbing onto the side of her head as she writhed back and forth. Unfortunately, even though it wouldn't kill her, it was still obviously extremely uncomfortable.  
Sam then stopped and stood frozen still. She opened her eyes and then quickly looked up. Her eyes were now their normal brown color as she was staring wide eyed at the four brothers. She now realized that they had finally arrived and what Krang was using her for, a weapon to fight against her family. She rapidly walked towards the brothers and began talking as fast as she could, knowing her time to help them was limited.  
"There's two beacons one for ship blue for me from guy controlling down below but it's in mine and Krang's-" Sam shouted towards them at the speed of light as she tried to quickly walk towards them, but then was cut off as her body went limp and her vision once again went black. Her body dropped to the ground quickly, her knees hitting first and then  
"Ahhhhh! What's happening down there?! Fix this!" Krang shouted as he stomped his foot on the ground.  
"Alright Donnie, find both beacons. Mikey, keep Sam busy and deactivate her beacon once Donnie gives you a signal. Raph and I will distract Krang and then the three of us will deactivate that beacon."

They sensed movement and the brothers looked forward to see that Sam had lifted her head up and was now showing off her mutagenic eye color with the red dots and lines once again.  
"Don't worry master, they will not pull something like that on her again" she said as she got back to her feet.  
"Just like she said, someone's controlling her from down below" Donnie stated. "I need to figure out where those two beacons are."  
"You can try, but the question is, will you focus more on saving your friend? Or will you focus on saving the world? The choice is yours. In the meantime…" Krang trailed off as Sam began to walk forward.  
She reached into the slots of her bag and pulled out her tonfa, only she did something new with them. What none of the turtles realized was that if Sam held her thumbs down long enough on the very ends of both her tonfa that her fingerprints would be scanned and the tonfa would then disconnect, turning her tonfa into a set of nunchuks.  
"Whoaaa."  
"Oh come on!"  
"What?!"  
"No way!" were the sounds that came from the four brothers.  
Sam displayed a wicked smile. "I see you've never fought her with these before, have you?"  
"Mikey?" Leo asked, hoping that he could explain what was happening.  
"She said her brother fought with sais, but his true calling was towards his nunchuks. She must have messed with them and turned them into her tonfa so that she would fight with her brother's weapons all along. But, how would Krang know that? How would he know something that we didn't?"  
"It's his mutagen and his tech" Donnie cut in, "there's probably so much he can do with her now that she has the mutagen he created running through her veins. There's so much he can do that the human race will probably never understand."  
"Well, then it's time we end this here before he has a chance to do anything else" Leo said. Usually he was able to maintain control, but man he wanted to fight Krang as badly as Raph wanted to fight everyone all the time.  
"This ends now, so don't let him know how you feel, let's throw him off and end this for good" Leo stated. He then looked forward and aimed a cocky grin towards Krang.  
"Hey bubbalicious! Let's see what you've got!"

Each of the turtles followed after one another to run up and attack Krang, but they weren't expecting the enemy to command Sam to stand in front of him and defend him. Sam quickly rushed to stand in front of her commander and threw her arms forward, using her wind powers to knock Leo and Mikey to her right, and then Donnie and Raph to her left.  
The turtles were all blown away and rolled some before standing back up and assessing the situation.  
'Man this is gonna be tougher than I thought' Raph thought to himself.

Raph then glanced over at Leo and instantly they had the same idea.  
Leo ran towards Krangs right side while Raph ran towards his left.  
Mikey remained in his spot and pressed a button on his nunchuks that extended the chain. He then whipped his weapon at an angle so that it would curve and wrap around Sam when she wasn't looking at him and instead was looking at the two brothers coming at Krang from opposite sides. This was much easier to pull off since she wasn't as alert as usual since she wasn't fighting as herself and was instead being controlled by someone else.  
Sam was then swiftly pulled to the side away from the battle against Krang and was now facing off against Mikey alone.

Leo, who had been charging towards Krang, was grabbed by a huge arm where the metal hand had been morphed into a large claw. He was then launched up and over Krangs right shoulder.  
Krang had launched his left clawed arm towards Raph as well, but the muscular turtle had ducked and dodged and evaded the attack. Raph then leapt forward and grabbed onto Krangs waist as he tried to climb upwards, doing the best he could to damage the huge robotic body that was attacking him.  
While these two momentarily had Krang tied up, Donnie was quick on his feet and then slid through Krangs now parted legs and then flipped over the raised metal pieces surrounding the console. He quickly began fidgeting with buttons from his own shoulder cam scanners and from the electronics of the ships tech itself.  
"Alright, about 8 minutes until this thing is complete. It's all you Donnie. No pressure, no pressure, no pressure" he said aloud to himself over and over again.

While Raph and Leo were fighting Krang and attempting to climb onto him in order to inflict damage towards his robotic suit, and while Donnie was trying to figure out where the two beacons were, Mikey was distracting Sam and attempting not to cause too much damage to her while simultaneously fighting her in order to keep her away from Krang and prevent her from hurting anyone else.  
Mikey pulled Sam against him while she was still tied up in the chain.  
He held her close and as tight as he could, hoping this was as far as the fight would need to go, but oh was he so terribly wrong.  
Sam leaned forward and then slammed her head backwards as hard as she could right into Mikey's chin. The move left his chin feeling more sore than usual since Sam had her mutagenic powers on her side.  
The second the chains came loose around her body she began to charge back at Mikey. She ran straight and then faked a dodge to the left only to then swing her right arm back and around so that as her body was moving forward, her arm was a step behind and was aiming right for Mikey's face.  
Mikey, a truly skilled nunchuker, saw this coming from a mile away and used both hands to straighten his nunchuks in front of him, blocking the attack.  
He knew he had to be careful in how he attacked because Sam's controller probably didn't care about what damages were caused to her body and would have her complete moves and absorb attacks that could truly put her life at risk.  
Now that Sam's arm had been held still due to her attack being blocked, her body could no longer travel forward, so instead she planted her left foot and then tried to twist, kick, and swing her right foot forward into Mikey's stomach.  
Again, the turtle was quicker and twisted his body so that her leg just missed kicking him directly in the center of his plastron while he also swung his right elbow up and connected it to her jaw.  
This knocked Sam over onto her side as she stumbled downwards from the impact.  
'Whoever is controlling her is definitely more focused on her powers than on actual fighting ability' Mikey thought to himself.  
Within that split second of lack of concentration, Sam had rolled over after landing rather harshly onto the ground and swung her leg around so that it pulled her body right back up so that she could once again charge towards Michelangelo.  
She began swinging the chucks from opposite sides and aimed for the more tender spots where the turtle's plastron no longer covered his upper body. She swung her left nunchuk inwards, then her right, and she continued to repeat this pattern, but Mikey held onto both nunchuks and straightened them out and continued to slide them right in front of where he knew Sam's weapons were about to land.  
What he wasn't expecting was that as the pattern continued for her to then drop the weapon in her left hand and grab onto his two straightened nunchuks.  
She forcefully pulled forward, the chains digging into her hands as she did so, and she twisted her body so that as Mikey was pulled forward she could flip him forward face first. As she pulled forward on his weapons with her left hand, she then also grabbed on with her right hand once she caught the turtle off guard. She had much more control of the movement once both of her hands were on his nunchuks and she swiftly flipped him forward so that he was now crashing down onto his shell.  
Although it was even more painful to move right after receiving the blow, Mikey twisted his legs and leapt upward in time to dodge Sam spinning around and slamming her foot down onto the ground where Mikey's body had laid.  
'Sam would have landed that shot if the mystery controller was focused on sight and speed and not just on the power of her strength' Mikey thought to himself. 'I have to make sure I keep using his lack of fighting skills to my advantage.'

While this battle had continued on, Donnie was still quickly working through the double shift of trying to locate the two beacons. He didn't care which came first, but he was struggling to find a lead towards either, and it was more difficult trying to focus on both at the same time rather than just focus on one and then the other.  
Finally he found a lead as to where Sam's beacon was. He found a guide within the system that talked about all the features of Krangs latest robotic suit (and he thanked his lucky stars that this being a new suit was why this document appeared so suddenly since Krang must have been referring to this document not long ago in order to activate his new suit). He then started typing faster than ever before as he sent the document to the scanning program on his shoulder and it quickly described each part of the suit. He then noticed a label that said "mind control" and he hacked in immediately. That's how he learned the cruel truth of how to save Sam.  
"I got Sam's beacon! It has nothing to do with who's controlling her down below! The energy source is coming from Krang's right shoulder in his suit! But we have to destroy that AND a chip in Sam's shoulder! Only destroying one without the other will make the chip in her shoulder self-destruct!" Donnie shouted out loud for everyone else to hear.

"HA!" Krang maniacally laughed, "so you found the first one. But are you going to risk hurting your friend just to save her?!" he roared with a vile laugh.  
"Mikey get her to me!" Donnie shouted. As much as he hated it, he knew he could stab Sam in the shoulder just where he'd need to. He could locate the chip in seconds if he could get her to remain still, but based on what this program was informing him, the only way to do that was to get to Krangs shoulder piece first.  
"Get to Krang, then bring her to me!" Donnie shouted.  
"Ughhhh lousy turtle!" Krang screamed, frustrated with how quick the purple one was.

"Guys! I have an idea! Get close to Krang!" Mikey shouted as he began to run away from Sam and closer to where his oldest brothers were standing.  
"Hey Sam! I haven't seen you use your wind powers! Man, you're the worst air bender yet!" Mikey shouted as he slid under Krang as he was whipping his body around, violently swinging his clawed arms in circles.  
Leo had dodged so that he was behind Krangs right side. As the clawed arm began to slow down so that its owner could maintain a position where he could see what was happening around him, Leo grabbed onto the arm and held on as tight as he could, fighting his hardest to keep his feet planted so that as he held onto the robotic arm, its owner could not continue to move forward because of this.  
Raph did the same thing as he dug one sai into Krangs claw and then the other into the ground of the ship, preventing Krang from moving forward.  
These two had done this at the same time that Mikey had called out Sam for not yet using her wind powers.  
Of course, hearing this angered whoever it was that was controlling Sam and instantly the controller fell into Michelangelo's trap.  
Right after he slid under Krangs claws, Mikey then leapt forward and placed a strong hold onto the robots leg.  
Sam was now standing behind Krang, and due to the hunger for power, the controller did not think through what he was doing as he instructed Sam to pull her arms backwards and lead her to use her wind powers to try and pull the turtles backwards and away from Krang and back towards her where she could continue to fight them.  
However, this plan backfired since the turtles were all in positions where as long as they held onto the parts of Krangs robot that they were, they would not move.  
What this actually did was prevent Krang from moving his robot body at all in any way whatsoever.  
This then angered Krang who was frozen in place. This anger lead him to act without thinking as he retracted his robotic arms without realizing that he was not holding Leo and Raph, but that it was actually the other way around.  
The force of the retraction made Leo lose his grip, but Raph, who had dug his sai into the robots hand, was pulled along with both his weapons towards Krang. Since Raph was not being held onto as he was pulled forward, he was still able to move his body freely, and as he was swiftly pulled toward his enemy he moved his arms just as swiftly and before Krang realized what was happening, two large sais were being dug into and dragged throughout Krangs right shoulder.

Immediately the red was removed from Sam's eyes which meant that she was no longer in Krangs control, but her body also began to collapse to the floor once more.  
Leo, who was the closest to her at the time, dashed over and scooped her up before her head slammed against the ground. He then pivoted on his foot and dashed back towards Donnie as it was now Raph and Mikey's turn to fight and distract Krang.

Meanwhile, Donnie had been reading the documents about where the chip was located in Sam's shoulder and was disturbed to learn that this chip was rather large. He thought he would need more of a larger medical pin to stab the chip, but it seemed more so that he would need a thicker blade from a kunai knife to stab the chip all the way through.  
As soon as Leo reached Donnie, the nerdy brother began shouting directions.  
"Go into my bag and get bandages and medical tape. But be careful since I only have ten seconds to make the right cut" he urged.  
Leo moved quickly but carefully as he went to remove the medical supplies from his brother's bag as he was also performing the procedure on Sam.  
Donnie was grateful that his friend was a tomboy and was wearing a looser Adidas shirt where he could easily move the neck of the piece of clothing to reveal her bare shoulder.  
He then steadied the kunai so that it would cut straight through where it needed to. Donnie gulped and then quickly stabbed the girls shoulder, refraining from moving his eyes away from the spot where he made his cut.  
The two turtles heard a crunch after Donatello made the incision.  
Leo winced assuming that this sound was a result of the knife digging into the girls bones. His worry soon went away as he looked at the screen in front of him and noticed that the cut was actually made in the gap between the girl's clavicle and her scapula, meaning that the only crunch sound being made was from the chip being broken.  
Donnie also felt a wave of relief when he saw that the screen displayed that the chip was no longer activated, meaning that besides for the cut in her shoulder, Sam was now safe.  
"Carefully remove the kunai and place the bandage right on top of the cut. Then wrap the medical tape around it in order to apply pressure. Leave her here with me once she all wrapped up" Donnie instructed, all the while typing away faster than ever before.  
Locating the ships main beacon should have been relatively easier now that he could aim every ounce of his attention towards one beacon compared to two.

Leo did his best to follow Donnie's orders. Each of the brothers had experienced medical training from Donnie in case they had to complete actions such as this, but practice was way different than the real thing, and it was worse when it was someone you cared about.  
But he had to keep his mind focused. He gulped each time he saw more blood begin to pour out of her shoulder, but then he pushed through and applied more force to the wound which helped slow down the bleeding each time.  
He finally wrapped up her shoulder and then fixed her shirt. An idea quickly popped into his head and he frantically searched through the bag on Sam's back. He was relieved as he found a role of black pre wrap in the girl's bag. He knew it wasn't a strong material, but after wrapping it multiple times around her shoulder and then tying it up, he knew this would help continue to keep the bandages she wore in place.

Leo now ran back and joined in on the fight. Along with Raph and Mikey, Leo had jumped onto Krangs body. Each of the three clung onto the robotic pieces as it began to spin around and around in circles.  
"Donnie!" Leo called out in exhaustion from the never ending spinning.  
"Just give me ten seconds!" Donnie called back.  
"Guys, I don't think I'm tall enough to ride this ride!" Mikey whined as he felt himself continuing to lose his grip.  
All of a sudden, something shoved Krang forward and all three turtles were released from the spinning chaos.  
Each brother was released in a different direction at alarming speeds.  
Leo was then launched towards the very edge of the flying machine. He heard his brothers calling after him and then began to see a glimpse of the ground so very far away down below. Luckily, he was as quick as ever and grabbed onto a protruding piece of metal from the ship and with the momentum from which he had been launched he was able to swing his body back onto the ship.  
He looked forward to see none other than Sam standing between Krang and Donnie's backs.

"Sam?!" Donnie called out as he continued to finish his hacking. He had been so focused on finding the beacon that he hadn't realized the movement behind him.  
"Don't worry I got you" she said as she stood back to back with the purple bearing turtle. Her eyes were their mutagenic colors, but now they were in her control.  
"But your shoulder-"  
"I haven't seen it and I'm filled with adrenaline so drop it before it actually hurts!"  
"But how did you recover so quickly?!"  
"I'll explain later!"  
Donnie nodded and continued to work.  
Krang snarled as he was more pissed now than ever. Everything he had spent years setting up with Shredder, using him as a pawn to test his materials, was now falling apart because of these five mutants.

The group was shocked and frozen as huge metal posts appeared from the ground of the ship with new weapons on each post. Krang then activated these posts as visible blue waves traveled down the robots arms and connected to the waves coming off of the posts. Soon a giant metal ball attached to Krangs right arm, and a new clawed arm to his left.  
"Guys, he is literally re-arming" Mikey stated.  
Krang then turned around, ignoring the other turtles and was now more focused on stopping the brainiest of the bunch. He launched his clawed arm so that it would go over top the girl and would aim straight for the taller turtles head.  
Leo however had made eye contact with Sam and the two were already on the same page.  
While Leo dashed around the side of Krang and was circling inward, Sam used her wind power to push the robotic arm upwards, and as Leo was now making his way towards the center where Krang was standing, he jumped up and forward and brought his blade down and cut right through the robotic hand before it could come anywhere near his brothers face.

"Where's the beacon Donnie? We're running out of time!" Leo called out as he slid under the other arm that was launched toward him.  
"Haha! You already have! Prepare to watch your city crumble!" Krang cackled.  
Loud beeping sounds were heard even when standing further away from the console. Bright red and blue lights began to flash back where Donnie was standing.  
Sam turned around to see what was happening and her eyes went wide.  
"Whoaaaaaa" she said as she took a step forward to examine what she was seeing, and it sent a shiver down her spine.  
"What's happening Donnie?!" Raph called out as he swung his sai and was able to momentarily bring Krang down onto his knees.  
"I was right" Donnie said aloud as his eyes grew wider and wider, "It's a massive weapons system. He's bringing it online!"  
"Come on buddy you got this" Sam said, trying to sound calm in hopes that it would help keep Donnie calm and collected.  
She wasn't sure if that helped or if it were pure coincidence that seconds later Donnie threw his hands up in excitement and smiled.  
"I found the beacon! It's just right…" he said as he began tilting backwards in order to match the location that the screen from his shoulder cam was leading him to with the actual location in person, "up…there…" he said as he pointed to a flashing red dot all the way at the top of the inner section of the machine.  
"Mikey go!" Leo announced as he grabbed onto a claw that was launched towards him, creating an opening for his brother to move.  
"Oh I'll get that beacon!" Mikey exclaimed as he hopped onto his skateboard and began rocketing around and over the cables of the arm.  
"Arghhhh! PLAYTIME IS OVER!" Krang howled. Once again blue waves appeared, only this time they were right in the chest of the robot. Then, a canon like weapon came flying towards Krang and attached to the robots chest.  
"Mikey, towards me!" Sam shouted as she leaped out of the console and into more open space.  
Mikey wasn't sure what she was going to do, but he zoomed his board over towards her.  
Krang began shooting huge blue laser beams towards Mikey in order to prevent him from reaching the beacon from up above.  
As Mikey aimed his direction closer to where Sam was standing, Sam used her powers to forcefully push away every beam that was aimed at Mikey.  
Because of this, Mikey was able to locate a beam that lead all the way to the top of the machine. He grinding along a pipe that lead him to this beam as he rode his skateboard all the way along the curved beam to the top of the machine.  
"Woohoo! I'm vertical!" he shouted with his arms held over his head.  
Sam kept looking back and forth between Mikey up above and the rest of the brothers down below. She then saw Krang launch another beam that sent the three brothers flying backwards.  
Sam wanted to help them fight, but at this point all she could do was attack from afar. She was beginning to feel slight pains in her shoulder from where she had been deeply cut and she knew that she would only cause more harm than good if she let her emotions take over and force her to push her body to limits that it couldn't handle.  
She wanted to prove that she had learned from her previous mistakes and held her hands on the sides of her head. She was fighting to remain in control of her body, but she felt these urges to just run forward and start swinging punches with all her might, but she knew this was a time where she needed to stand back and help from afar.

Luckily when she looked back up she saw Mikey grab onto the red beacon and begin to travel back down to the ground of the ship as he traveled down the curved beam.  
As he rocketed around on the ground, Mikey tried to make his way towards Donnie, assuming he would know what to do with the beacon.  
"Hey heads up Donni-ah!" Mikey called as he tried to get closer to his brother, only to get slammed to the ground from a launching claw that smacked right into him.  
Although he came crashing to the floor, Mikey made sue to hold onto the beacon, but Krang also made sure to hold onto him as he dragged Mikey back towards him. He wrapped his arms around Michelangelo so that he was now squeezing and crushing him underneath his grasp.

Now Sam was really feeling the urge to just go Hulk and smash. She knew she shouldn't, she knew she couldn't, but she so badly just wanted to run in and attack Krang. Now that she knew what her emotions could lead her to do she tried to fight and stay calm, but her friend was being crushed and she was just standing there doing nothing! Her eyes grew wide and her teeth were clenched just as tightly as her knuckles were. She needed to act now and stop worrying about waiting! She was so focused on waiting for the right moment that she was driving herself insane! NO! Just acting randomly and lashing out is what lead to her almost death back in Brazil, and this was worse. What if her careless actions lead to Mikey's death?! What was she supposed to do?!

"SAM!" Leo shouted.  
She looked up and Leo could immediately tell she was fighting her inner self and that she needed instruction.  
"Do what you did earlier! Keep him still!"  
'That's it!' Sam thought to herself. 'I can act, but the guys will fight. Team effort!'  
Sam nodded her head and ran towards Krang while Leo and Raph climbed up two ladder shaped beams and onto a flying piece of the ship.  
Sam noticed Donnie go behind them and do the same thing and she sensed that Krang was watching all of them as well.  
Sam decided now was the time to try out a new move she had been practicing.  
She clapped both her hands together and focused her wind powers towards the center. She then began trying to pull her arms apart, but with a huge gust focused right in the center.  
Usually she used her powers to push things forward or to pull things back, but the purpose of this move was to move things in a centered position apart, and overall that was what she was doing now.  
This was still a relatively new move, so it definitely wasn't perfected, but she was able to achieve her goal of paralyzing Krang. As she slowly struggled to pull her arms apart, Sam could see Krangs grip on Mikey begin to lightly loosen as his robotic elbows now stood out to the side. The robots feet were now also placed apart from each other, and now that Krang couldn't control the movements of his arms or legs as they were being pulled out to the sides, he was now paralyzed.  
Krang glared down at the girl who was glaring right back at him.  
"Nooooo! You can't do this to me! I OWN YOU!"  
"Heh, you don't own shit" Mike scoffed as he then spit in Krangs face.  
Because of this, Krang never saw Leo and Raph coming as they jumped onto his chest and back, digging their blades into the crevices of where the robots head were located.  
The two turtles pulled back with all their might as they felt the head of the robot coming loose.  
"NOBODY, MESSES" Raph shouted as the robots head popped off and the three turtles fell into the wind gusts of Sam's pull.  
"WITH MIKEY!" Donnie declared as he landed on the top of the robot and slammed his bo staff down onto the top control module and electrocuted the entire robot.  
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Krang shouted as his metal suit came crashing down to the ground.  
Sam officially relinquished herself from using her powers and took multiple deep breaths, calming herself after using such an exhausting technique.

All the turtles got to their feet.  
"Guys, Krangs down but his ship is still building" Leo announced.  
"The beacon" Sam announced as she was now on her knees and holding her sides, man that took way more out of her than she was expecting.  
"Oh, Donnie!" Mikey shouted as he tossed him the beacon.  
"Drone activated!" Donnie announced as he then launched the drone from his bag into the air. It latched onto the beacon and then began soaring towards an opening towards the top of the Technodrome.  
"I got April!" Raph announced. He had begun dialing April's number as soon as he heard Sam mention the beacon.  
Donnie took the phone and looked down as he saw April's face on the other end of the line.  
"Now! Close the portal now!"  
"Ohhhhhhhh!" Mikey said, holding his knuckle up to his chin.  
Donatello looked up and all four brothers rushed to get as close as they could to watch, and finally, they saw the drone sneak out through the last open crack. All the pieces of the ship were now beginning to follow the beacon that was being carried by the drone back up towards the portal.

"Yes!" Donnie shouted.  
"Yes?" Mikey questioned, not quite sure what just happened.  
"Yes!" Donnie replied as he nodded towards his baby brother with a huge smile.  
Even Leo and Raph were doing double takes once their nerdy brother confirmed that this was a time for celebration.  
"YEAHHHHHH!" Raph shouted.  
"Aw yeah!" Mikey added.  
"Woohoo!" Leo chimed in as each turtle latched onto each other in brotherly hugs.  
They each expected Sam to be a part of their family hugging, but were shocked to see that she was no longer behind them.  
They turned around to see Sam quickly put a pill into her mouth as she stood over top of the still fallen Krang.  
"No…no! Impossible! How would they have followed me here to give you that?!" he wailed.  
Sam then crouched down and shoved her hand into Krangs head.  
The turtles saw hers and Krangs eyes roll into the back of their heads for a solid ten seconds before Sam finally removed her hand and stumbled backwards.  
"Sam what the hell?!" Raph yelled as she stumbled back into his grasp.  
"Sam?" Mikey mumbled as he watched his friend continue to shake.  
"Hold onto her Raph! This is our stop!" Leo called.  
While Sam had been shaking, the group had ridden on one of the floating pieces until it came close enough for them to jump off and land on the top of a tall office building.  
Raph carefully placed Sam on the ground once they had stuck their landing and all four brothers were now standing together and watching as a weak Krang flew by on his own floating piece, declaring that he would be back and a thousand times stronger at that.

The boys then watched as all the pieces returned through the portal back from where they once came.  
They went to celebrate once more, but were blown back from a gust of air that was released as the portal officially closed.  
As they all fell to their backs, they saw that Sam was now sitting up behind them and staring up at the sky.  
"Dang Donnie, you're gonna need another drone now" she stated as she shook her head.  
"SAM!" they all exclaimed as they scrambled to their feet.  
Leo helped her stand up and was gentle in doing so, making sure not to harm her shoulder.  
He gave her a serious look.  
"You finally gain a chance to control your emotions and then you go bat-shit crazy at the end. What were you doing?" he asked strictly, although his voice was also laced with concern.  
"I did what they told me to" she replied nonchalantly.  
The boys all looked back and forth amongst each other.  
"That, who told you Sam?" Donnie asked.  
"The Neutrinos" Sam said with a beaming smile. "They didn't visit you guys?" she questioned.  
"No, because they don't exist" Raph stated in a mocking tone.  
"Say what?" Sam asked.  
"Uh, no offense Sam, but no one was on that ship but us and Krang. We never saw anyone" Mikey added gently.  
"Well yeah, because they shrunk themselves down so that Krang wouldn't find them. They're actually pretty cool people. Funky hair and clothes though."  
"Wow, blood loss must make you delusional" Raph teased.  
Sam displayed a hurt expression.  
"But, I'm not making it up. They were there. They're the reason I was able to take that pill-"  
"And what did that do again?" Leo cut in.  
Sam went to talk, but she felt like now wasn't the best time to explain the horrible images that she saw as she read through the recent thoughts of Krangs mind.  
"I promise I'll explain, but not now. We just won, you know? But I promise later I'll tell you everything I know."  
The boys looked back and forth at each other and decided that she had made a fair argument. They had JUST won their battle against Krang, so they thought it wouldn't be fair to make Sam go into what seemed to be more troublesome details after just being given time to cool their heads.  
"Fine, I guess that's fair" Raph said as he gently nudged her shoulder.  
It wasn't a hard nudge at all, but it was the fact that it was her shoulder. The cut shoulder. The one that was throbbing and sore as hell right now.  
Sam was a strong woman, but with this much pain, she literally couldn't control the tears forming in her eyes. It hurt like a bitch, but with her pain trainings she could handle it…but just to mess with Raph she was totally gonna milk this.  
The boys all winced as Sam grunted in pain from the contact and she then immediately turned to face Raph with her now teary eyes.  
"Why do you hate me?" she asked softly, and his reaction was all she could have hoped for.  
"Uh, um, I mean, I don't, um, uhhhhh" Raph stuttered, regretting the simple nudge.  
Mikey then flicked Sam's forehead.  
"Heyyy" she said as she pouted towards her best friend, whom was now waving his finger at her.  
"Tsk, tsk Samantha. Messing with Raphael like that on purpose" Mike playfully ridiculed.  
"Wait, what?" Raph asked in a rough voice.  
"ANYWAY" Leo stated, changing the subject before a brand new war broke out between the siblings, even though Raph and Sam were playfully aiming slowed punches that didn't even touch the other towards one another, "I knew all that would work out" he said with a playfully cocky grin.  
"Okay hold up!" Mikey said, "so you really thought that us 5 teenagers could save the whole world?"  
"Sure" Leo replied smoothly. "Guys, we've got something that no one else has."

The five of them then gathered together, going from Mikey on the right, to Raph, to Leo, to Sam, to Donnie on the left, and then placed their hands into a pile. And as they lifted them up into the air the main words they all heard were: "GARBAGE TRUCK!"  
All eyes were now on Raph as the rest of the group had confused grins on their faces.  
"Garbage truck?" Leo asked with a grin.  
"Um, uh" Raph stuttered, instantly looking towards Mikey for help.  
"Well we do have that!" Mikey and Sam said at the same time as they pointed towards Raph, trying to ease his embarrassment at saying the wrong word.  
"But let's go with the other one though" Mikey added.

So once again the group put their hands together and this time they all announced:  
"TURTLE POWER!"

 **1\. GUYS I never realized until I watched this up close that none of the brothers knew they had officially won until Donnie started screaming! Like Mikey even questions "yes?" before he cheers and Leo does double takes, even the fearless leader didn't know they won until Donnie made it known. I was laughing so hard when I realized this!**

 **2\. OH MY GOD I SOMEHOW WROTE THIS IN TWO NIGHTS! Like I stayed up super late but like oh my gosh yes! I mean there's still a little bit to add because this wasn't directly where the movie ended, but the fact that my fic has reached this point is mind blowing! Like I'm almost at the end of arc 2!  
Hehe, hope you all stick around to see what comes next! **

**3\. If you're wondering why I ignored the other half of what was happening during this scene, I kind of left out what April, Casey, and Vern did during the movie only because we all can see what they did and the only change I made to that part was that Jay is now with them, which we'll hear about that a little bit next chapter. In the future, after the scenes of the film, I will definitely include what is happening behind the scenes of the fight, but I've ignored that more in this section of my story only because we already know what happens and obviously all the major changes to the fight occurred where the turtles were.**

 **4\. Thank you again to all of those who leave comments, like, views etc. and to all who have taken the time to read through this story. And to the guests who leave comments, thank you so much. I wish I could thank you/all of you individually since I'm not sure who all the guests are, but this shout-out is to all of you for communicating your likes and thoughts :) Any type of support and advice is always appreciated.**


	45. Chapter 45

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #45

 ***The same day, Monday June 8** **th** **, 2015. A little after 12:50p.m. in the lair***

The fight had ended at 12:50p.m. The turtles wanted to head straight home, but Sam knew that she couldn't run from Chief Vincent forever. Her turtle brothers however were not going to allow her to turn herself over so easily. They convinced her to at least return with them to the lair and have a full on discussion with everyone who played a role in the events that had occurred that day.

When the group of 5 returned to the lair, they met up with April, Casey, Jay, and Vern. All three men instantly began talking about how 'badass' they were during their fights (after Jay rushed over to hug his sister, while also mildly panicking at her injuries, and then further checking to make sure she was truly okay). Jay and Casey talked about how they teamed up and out-smarted the giant mutants they were up against, and Vern was thrilled to announce that he had taken out a Foot soldier all by himself by jumping down from a large freight shipping crate.  
While Raph was impressed with what these guys had accomplished, he was getting fed up that Sam kept standing up from her chair and that he had to keep gently pushing her back down to stay seated. She had stood up for the 5th time by the time he was fed up and was ready for the conversation to get back on track.

"Alright already! You guys did great, and we appreciate it, but can we please talk about how we're going to handle THIS?" he emphasized as he shoved Sam back down into her chair for the 6th time.  
Sam plopped down and groaned as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs.  
"Ughhhhh can I please get up so I can use the bathroom?"  
Raph crossed his arms and looked down at her.  
"I don't buy it" he huffed.  
"Raph, the main bathroom is right around that corner. She's knows that if she tries to leave that I have access to all the tunnels traps right here" Donnie said gently (but also in a tone so that she knew that even though he was facing Raph he knew Sam would get the hint).  
"I don't want to escape, I just wanna pee!" Sam whined, her face literally on the table as she leaned forward in her chair.  
"Fine" Raph gave in.  
Sam then quickly scoot back in her chair and rushed to stand up. She made sure to glare at Raph before she practically ran towards the bathroom.  
"Don't give me that face!" Raph called after her.  
"If you don't like my face then look at my ass!" she retorted.  
Mikey quickly cupped his hand to his mouth to hide his laughter, but Raph smacked him across the back of the head anyway.  
"My sister everyone" Jay said as he shook his head and laughed.  
"So, you guys knew she would have turned herself in back there to, huh?" he asked.  
The four sighed and slumped down into the remaining chairs at the table.  
"If we hadn't boxed her in then she would have walked right over towards Vincent without even thinking about it!" Donnie scream whispered, slamming his pointer finger into the table as a means to emphasize his frustration.  
"We have to come up with something" Mikey said softly with saddened eyes, "we can't just let her throw her life away."  
"Casey, what are the odds of Vincent meeting with Sam and discussing everything that happened the other night and why she attacked the police the way she did?" Leo asked.  
Casey bit his lip and rubbed his hands down his neck.  
"Before tonight I would have said she didn't have a chance at all for that to happen, but after seeing how you guys saved the city and possibly the entire world, she may give her a chance to explain. I can definitely talk to her, and Jay, April, and Jade can aide me as well. If you're willing that is" Casey said as he now turned and faced April.  
The woman began nodding her head as soon as she heard her name.  
"Of course. She's been through hell, and Vincent needs to understand that before she makes her final decision in how to deal with Sam."  
"So it's settled," Raph added, "we keep things down low and avoid telling Sam because who knows what she'll try to sneak by us. You guys talk to Vincent, we keep her busy down here until the time comes for Sam to meet with the chief."  
"She has to rest up anyway. Her shoulder needs to properly heal, and her hands were cut up pretty badly as well" Donnie added. "We'll use that, and also testing out her powers as reasons as to why we want to keep her down here."  
"One more thing" Mikey added.  
All eyes were now on the youngest in the room. Leo couldn't explain it, but somehow he knew just what his baby brother was going to say, and he agreed with it wholeheartedly.  
"Whenever Vincent decides to meet Sam, we HAVE to be allowed to join her. The two don't meet in any way unless the four of us are right behind her" Mikey demanded, using his hands to speak the same way Donnie had.  
Donnie and Raph looked at their youngest, and then right towards their oldest brother. They waited for him to state why this was a bad idea, but Leo just shrugged and smiled.  
"Couldn't have said it better myself" he chuckled.

Just then Sam had exited the bathroom.  
She looked up and could tell that everyone was purposefully making sure to avoid eye contact with her, which obviously meant that they had all been talking about her.  
She rolled her eyes as she continued to walk towards the table.  
"Geez, you use the bathroom once and you turn into Medusa" she stated as she walked back and slumped down into her chair.  
"Well then you should be honored to see yourself as such a lovely lady" Mikey said cheerfully, thinking he was complimenting his friend.  
Sam squinted her eyes and formed an odd smile as she turned towards her friend.  
"Mikey, who's Medusa?" she asked.  
He shrugged. "I dunno, some goddess right?"  
Sam nodded. "If that's all you know, then I'll take what you just said as a compliment" Sam said with a smile.  
"Exactly!" Mikey announced, crossing his arms with pride.

"Well we don't want you turning men into stone so you're going to relax down here" Jay said as he pat his sister on the shoulder and stood up.  
"Saw that coming" Sam mumbled.  
"And hey look at this" Donnie said as he held the girls hand to her face, "you're also injured! And this isn't your only injury either! So that means you get to head over to the med lab. Looks like you were staying here anyway" he said with too much enthusiasm as he pulled Sam along with him, even if she was groaning all the way.

With that, the turtles gave Donnie space to check on Sam (who ended up nerding out as Donnie tested some of his latest medical tech on her). Each of the remaining brothers went off on their own for a while.  
Meanwhile, their human friends up above were working towards arranging that meeting like they discussed. Sam had no idea this was in the works, and that's just how they wanted it to be. Jade and Casey talked to Vincent first and provided evidence (with Jay sharing his own personal stories as well) as to how Sam ended up in her current situation. He included details of how they grew up and the tragedies they faced and how that led her to the turtles who had continued to help straighten her out. April also joined in and explained the turtles back story (after gaining permission from the turtles and Splinter to do so) and helped fill in missing details about what had happened that the turtles cared for Sam so much, why they were working together to break into headquarters that night, and why Sam had reacted the way that she did.  
After 4 days of discussions and research on the events that had occurred recently, Vincent finally decided that she would meet with Sam with the turtles behind her.

 ***4 days later, Friday June 12** **th** **, 2015 at 9p.m. at Police Headquarters. The hallway right outside the chiefs office***

The group of 5 were updated that Vincent was willing to meet with Sam and that she was kind enough to let the turtles accompany her. However, the turtles needed to remain silent and let Sam do the talking on her own. If they wanted to remain in the room with her, then they needed to remain calm.  
She wanted to meet with them in a private location where she could record the conversation, so she made arrangements for the group to meet her in her office once the sun would be going down. She sent the majority of her officer's home so that the group would have the walk of the building without exposure of being seen by new faces.  
So here they were. Sam was sitting calmly outside the office. The brothers…not so much.

Raph was pacing as he always did, crunching a hand weight as he did so.  
Leo kept tapping his feet.  
Donnie was holding a small cellular device in his hand which he kept tapping against the palm of his other hand.  
Mikey was constantly twiddling his thumbs together.  
Sam was about to say something to them, but Jade had interrupted her thoughts as she carefully exited the office.  
"The chief is ready to see you now" she stated.  
The four boys shot right up and got into their typical formation: two brothers in front of Sam, two brothers behind.

The group entered the office. The boys stood a little further towards the back while Sam took a seat in the front. She was hooked up with patches and wires in order to conduct a lie detector test. The man reviewing the results was a member of the NYFS who had already seen the turtles before and had sworn long ago never to reveal a bit of information about them to anyone.  
Chief Vincent smiled as she noticed how the boys were respecting her wishes.  
"The four of you may sit down as well. I said you couldn't talk over top of her, I didn't say you had to hide yourselves."  
The four nodded and then assumed their same positions. Mikey sat on Sam's left and Leo on her right. Raph sat behind Mikey, and Donnie right behind Leo.  
"So," the chief said as she stared right at Sam's eyes, "I'm going to run through things from the very beginning, and I'm going to ask you some questions to see if they match what other voices have told me."  
Sam was silent, but she nodded to show she understood.  
"What happened July 28th 2010?"  
Sam pursed her lips together before she spoke.  
"I lost everything, everything except for my brother."  
"How?"  
"The Foot. They killed everyone."  
"Who-"  
"My siblings, my family" Sam cut in.  
Vincent nodded her head.  
"I see. And you were 12 at the time. I can see how that would lead you to lash out and commit the crimes that you did" Vincent said as she held her hands together on her desk.  
"I see you've been looking at my record" Sam stated.  
"You have a record?" Mikey asked, slight shock in his voice.  
His eyes went wide and he then turned towards the chief.  
"Oh, I'm so sorry-"  
"It's okay. Obviously your friend never told you about her criminal days. I'd advise you explain your thought process now."  
Sam gulped and sighed.  
"You know how I bring you guys with me to explore the city? Well, it took me a few tries before I became good at it."  
"Oh" the chief said with wide eyes, "you've included them in your breaking and entering?"  
Now Sam was starting to get pissed. She responded with more sass and attitude than she had meant to.  
"Yes. Because my family was dead, my brother was never around because he was being manipulated to work for the Foot, and every friend or anything close I ever had completed abandoned me because they knew why my family died but decided to hide the truth from me until it almost ruined my life even further. So yes, when you have nothing to look forward to, you find something that makes you feel alive again, something risky that makes you feel like you're fighting back even though you don't know what you're fighting for, something that-"  
Just then she felt a hand from each brother on either her arm or her shoulder.  
She closed her eyes and didn't open them until she had calmed herself down.  
"Yes. I snuck into places because I had nothing, and that's what gave me purpose, like I was looking for any type of sign. Eventually that lead me to these guys, and for once I had something to look forward to."  
"And that was?"  
Sam looked the chief right in the eye.  
"Living life to the fullest with my family."  
Vincent couldn't help but notice the small smiles that were being fought to be kept hidden away from the brothers as they listened to the girl talk.  
"Well, it seems these four have helped keep you out of trouble at least since after those 4 incidents of us catching you breaking into various buildings, the only things we have left on your record are all your different therapy sessions. Besides for medical and academic records, nothing comes back up under your name until last summer when you apparently joined the Foot clan. Explain that to me."  
Leo and Mikey sensed Sam clenching her fists under the table. She was obviously growing frustrated from having to discuss some of the most depressing and most difficult times of her life all at this one very moment.  
"My brother told me to leave the city and run away because Shredder wanted me as a recruit. But I knew that leaving would lead to Jay's death, and I wasn't going to let that happen."  
Chief Vincent tilted her head to the side.  
"Why exactly did Shredder want you of all people?"  
"Look at who's sitting around me" Sam said matter of factly.  
She felt a light nudge by Leo, meaning she needed to politely answer the question again.  
"Shredder found out I was friends with these guys, so he demanded that I either come work for him, or Jay and I both perish. At the time plans were already being made for a rebellion to occur within the Foot clan, so I joined thinking I would be in and out quickly. Unfortunately I was in there for an entire month before the plans were put into action."

"And that's where these four come in, right? You became closer to them because they helped save you and everyone else."  
The room was silent as everyone waited for a remark from Sam. Without moving their entire bodies, the four brothers slightly turned so they could look at Sam, confused and worried at her long pause. Finally, she figured out how she wanted to respond.  
"It…it was a lot more than them just showing up to save me…" she muttered.  
She then looked up and saw that based on the chief's expression, she was obviously waiting for Sam to elaborate on that response.  
This was all really beginning to stress her out. Every dark turn her life had ever faced was being relived right now, right in this moment, and it was beginning to pull her into a brand new dark hole in itself from the upsetting emotions she was experiencing.  
She then felt Mikey place his leg right next to hers, and even this gentlest type of physical contact brought her back to reality.  
"I had just gained their trust, they had just started seeing me as family. And what happens? They see me working with the Foot clan. They felt betrayed, I felt like an idiot, I got into a fist fight with one of them and could have possibly killed him, and then the rest told me to leave."  
All four brothers looked off to the side, remembering these dark days and regretting so much about how everything was handled.  
"All in all, I betrayed my family and once again I felt like I had lost everything. So when they showed up unexpectedly, it changed everything."  
Sam then looked back up at the chief, hoping she had said enough to answer the chiefs question, and she could tell by Vincent's expression that she had done so.  
"Alright. So explain to me how you gained these powers then. What caused them?"  
"A mix of Shredder's experiments and also me dying" Sam said straightforward.  
This caught the chief off guard.  
"Excuse me?"  
"Oh, you didn't know? Shredder was constantly testing mutagenic chemicals on humans and-"  
"Not that. You, you died?"  
"Oh yeah. Saving this one" she said, shaking her hand with her thumb pointed towards Mikey, who looked embarrassed as he was being pointed at. "But it's okay because he used a special type of mutagen that brought me back to life. It gave me powers in regards to controlling and manipulating wind while also giving me enhanced strength. And yes, that's what you saw at headquarters the other night, an example of what those powers can do-"  
"Objection!" Donnie interrupted, the thoughts in his head overriding his actions.  
His brothers were all staring at him with wide eyes, hoping that whatever he had to say wouldn't get them or Sam in trouble.  
Sam however was smirking as she turned around to face Donnie. "Objection?" she asked.  
"Um, I just had something to add, if that's allowed" Donnie stated, attempting to sound confident as he first looked at Sam and then at the chief.  
The chief nodded. "Alright, go on."

"Sam gained her powers because of the mutagen that was injected into her body due to circumstances involving her time with the Foot, but we've been monitoring them as best as we can. We've learned a great deal about how they work and what she is able to do with them, but we also just recently learned that this mutagen zones in on the users temporal lobe in the brain, meaning it can affect memories and emotions. So when she attacked the other night at headquarters-"  
"It was out of her control" the chief interrupted. "It's obvious she has an emotional connection to all of you, so based on what you just said, when her family was threatened she took action."  
"Couldn't control the action at the time" Sam mumbled, "but I can now. I would never harm anybody like that on purpose."  
"How do you know your emotional senses are now stable?" the chief asked.  
"She controlled herself during our fight with Krang" Leo added. "Mikey got caught, but Sam controlled herself and helped us save him, rather than letting her protective emotions take over and just act without thinking."  
'So she was with them' the chief thought to herself. She was still curious and a bit worried about what risks the girl in front of her could cause to the city, but it seemed she was with a crowd that could maintain control of her. This played a major role in the chief making her final decisions about what to do with Sam.

"Alright, so here's the deal" the chief began, "we have records of Sam, and we have records of you. Sam's were already on file, but all my information about the four of you is pretty new. I've seen video files that were hidden away from the night the Foot fell, and many ex Foot in the NYFS told stories of how they were stopped because of you guys and how if it weren't for you, Shredder would have gotten away with a lot worse in the past. As for you" she said as she now stared directly at Sam, "while you have a record, you've experienced things that no person should ever have to go through, let alone a child. I'm not saying that makes your early actions okay, but I see where your mind was. That and the fact that your brother eventually convinced you to clean up your act and you're now in programs that positively represent our city, it's obvious you're no longer into regular criminal activity. I'm not exactly thrilled to hear you sneak into buildings after dark, but it also sounds like you're also doing so with these four who obviously have an incredible impact on you. Oh, I read all the letters people sent to the four of you, and if you're ever interested we'll make sure you see them" she said with a small smile. "SO, because of your improving records and emotionally reasonable life decisions you've made in the past, and because of the good work your friends have done to keep this city safe, I'm letting you off with a warning."  
All 5 sets of eyes were now staring wide at the chief.  
She smirked. "Even though you broke many obvious laws in regards to harming officers, you yourself have helped keep this city safe by taking tremendous risks to your body that aided you in stopping Shredder when you probably could work towards taking over the city yourself. So, as long as you follow my rules, then you're safe."  
"And, what exactly are your rules?" Sam asked cautiously.

"I don't know if you've heard, but the NYPD and the NYFS are officially partners now, so anytime you hear anything about this Krang or Shredder or god knows what else will come for us, you ALL need to report your findings to us. In order for our parties to respect each other, we have to trust each other and work together."  
The group nodded, assuming this wasn't such a bad rule.  
"I'm going to turn a blind eye to your group sneaking into places since from what I've understood none of you have ever stolen anything anywhere you've gone. As the cities heroes that hide in the shadows, we'll pretend we don't know anything as long as you don't break any rules outside of sneaking in."  
Again, the group nodded their heads.  
"My final rule, you all need to send updates to the NYFS about Sam's powers and any progress you make in better understanding them."  
The chief could sense the tension in the room once she stated her final rule.  
"Look," she said as she made sure to face each person in the room at least once as she spoke, "I know that's not what you want to hear, but if for whatever reason something goes wrong I need to know so that I can keep the people within this city safe. I have no idea what exactly could go wrong, but that's also because I don't know anything about these powers except for what you told me seconds ago. I'm fine with you conducting whatever tests you're planning since the other day you made it clear that you have enough tech to do so, but we need those records after you've collected them. If that fails to happen, then any tests deemed important will be conducted by the NYFS. Plus, this allows the rest of us to understand what's going on in case, somehow, Sam seems off to certain extents. The way I'm explaining it sounds horrible, but I hope you all can understand what I'm getting at."

Leo nodded his head.  
"We get what you're saying. Donnie?" he asked since this last rule would affect him the most out of his brothers.  
"I get it. Message received loud and clear" Donnie stated. He wasn't thrilled with basically having to share information about what type of tech he had or would be using since this would be revealed in the tests that would be completed, but if it meant keeping Sam safe then these reveals would be worth it.  
"Alright" the chief said as she stood up with a smile, "in that case you're all free to go. Oh, and I assume we'll see you all tomorrow at this same time down around Battery Park."  
The boys looked back and forth at each other in confusion.  
"Battery Park, ma'am?" Leo asked.  
Her face scrunched as she stared back at him.  
"Well yes, it's one of the few places you can go in order to reach the Statue of Liberty. That's where your ceremony is being held."  
"Our ceremony?" Raph questioned.  
"Yes, where you're all getting your keys to the city. Did you not tell them?" the chief asked as she looked down at Sam.  
Sam was trying her best not to laugh at the shocked expressions on the boys faces.  
"Heh, no" she stated bluntly, playfully curling up in her chair as a chorus of 'SAMMMM!' 'Aw come on!' and other claims were made aloud.  
"Why didn't you tell us?" Leo asked in a mix of frustration and excitement.  
"Because your reactions are priceless. I wanted to see if I could go all the way up until tomorrow night before you realized. But this reveal is just as awesome" she said as all the brothers started nudging her.  
"We'll be there and ready right at 9" Leo reassured to the chief.  
"Excellent."  
"Oh, just to be sure-"  
"The only ones that will be there are your immediate human family and the officers who helped you enter the building" the chief said with a smile, knowing what Leo was thinking before he could speak. "Anything else I can answer for you before you go?" she asked.  
Leo paused, and then a huge smile grew on his face.  
"Can we bring our dad?"

 ***The next night, Saturday June 12** **th** **, 2015. 9p.m. at the Statue of Liberty monument***

And that was exactly where the group was now.  
Donnie had driven the truck and followed Jay and Casey's cars all the way towards Battery Park where the group then boarded a ferry that took them over to the Statue of Liberty monument site.  
There the four were given their keys to the city as a small ceremony was held to congratulate and thank the turtles for their hard work.  
Chief Vincent stood and spoke from a speaking stand as she gave a short speech about who the turtles were and all that they had done for the city.  
All the participating officers stood in rows in front of the small stage where the turtles were now standing tall and proud.  
In the crowd stood Vern, and on his right Jade, and then Jay, Sam, April, and Casey on the far end.  
Splinter had also joined the group and was currently attending the event, but he could sense that multiple female officers were a bit 'freaked out' by his appearance as a giant rat, so in respect to them he decided to find a comfortable spot where he could bask in the warmth from the lights above and made it his own. He was still in clear and close eye sight of his boys, and that's all that mattered.  
As the brothers stood on the stage, Leo, Donnie, and Mikey were all facing towards the chief as she spoke while Raph was currently facing outwards at the crowd of people who were here congratulating him and his brothers, something he never thought would ever happen.  
Chief Vincent was now coming towards the end of her speech. He then began to smirk as he saw Sam keep wiping at her eyes. Man she was more emotional than she allowed people to know and realize about her.

"For your incredible valor within this community, and for your uncompromising cooperation with this agency, I present to you the keys to the city. A symbol of our appreciation, respect, and for our continued partnership. To you, brothers:  
Leonardo"  
Leo had been staring out towards his father. Knowing that his dad was here to see the progress that he and his brothers had made in keeping the city safe, and in working together as a team based on everything their father had ever taught them, this was one of the greatest honors he could ever truly receive. He then looked up at the chief as he heard her announce his name and he shot her an appreciative smile, displaying how thankful he truly was for this experience.  
"Raphael"  
Raph shot a similar smile towards the chief and then shone this smile towards the crowd, specifically his human family. It all started with April, and then Vern came along and helped them (no matter how 'macho' he tried to be) and then came Sam and Jay, and now even Casey seemed to care and want to help lookout for the group, and Raph would be a total liar if he said he didn't feel any type of bromance with the hockey maniac that had joined their group.  
"Donatello"  
Donnie had been watching his brothers as their names were called and was grateful just to see the two of them calm and at peace for once. While he was excited to receive this honor, right now it was his brothers that were all on his mind. Family always came first, and to see his oldest brothers so happy meant more to him than any key to the city ever could. He then turned in time to see his youngest brother have his name called, and he chuckled at the way his baby brother reacted.  
"Michelangelo"  
Mikey had been staring at all his oldest brothers the way Donnie had. As a younger brother, all he could ever want was for his oldest 3 brothers to feel happy and at peace, so seeing their reactions made his heart happier than anything else. However, he was still the baby brother, so of course his reaction was still very comical compared to Donnie's more mature and nonchalant glanced smile to the crowd. Mikey heard his name and he whipped his body forward and his hand shot up to give a quick wave to the all those watching.

"Uh, last names?" the chief whispered to the brothers.  
Each of their faces went blank as they realized they had never EVER thought of this, and they also began to wonder how the heck they had never once thought of this.  
Donnie was about to make a comment when they all heard someone coughing, and possibly trying to speak from the crowd.  
"cough, cough, ama, cough, toe" Sam coughed.  
"I'm sorry?" the chief questioned.  
"Ahem" Sam said, lightly beating her hand to her chest to make it seem like she was actually coughing. "I said their last name is Hamato" she said as she held her arms down below in front of her waist and twiddled her thumbs. She then turned towards Splinters direction, as if gaining his approval. "Right Sensei?"  
Splinter stroked his furred beard between his claws.  
"Hmmm Hamato, as in the great ninja Hamato Yoshi…yes, that seems like a nice last name for our family. It blends together quite well."  
He then noticed Sam giving him a thumbs up with a large smile on her face, and the old rat couldn't help but laugh as he shot her a thumbs up in return.

"In that case, to the Hamato brothers, congratulations" the chief announced as a round of applause pursued for the brothers.  
People then began to disperse and talk amongst each other.  
Sam was smiling and watching over the brothers, who were now excitedly talking amongst each other, as she felt a light nudge in her right side.  
"Well, looks like someone had to copy me, huh?" April teased.  
"Psh, you named all of them, it's only fair that I get to give them one last name to share" she said as she nudged the woman back.  
"She's got a point" Casey added.  
April then teasingly shot him a confused look.  
"Okay, who's side are you on?" she asked.  
Sam noticed the obvious fliting going on between these two, so she turned to talk to Jay, only to notice that he was talking to Jade and Vern, so she decided it was time to move forward and congratulate her brothers.  
She took a few steps forward and hopped up onto the small stage. She then paused for a moment before deciding which brother to stand by and from which direction, trying not to obviously walk right over towards him first. She then shook her head, deciding that it didn't matter if she walked towards him or any other brother, they were all family and that's what mattered.  
"Wooooooooooow" she said as she leaned in close towards Leo's chest, "these things really shine."  
Leo gently pushed her back as he laughed.  
"Thank you for respecting me by not touching the key, but you're invading my personal space."  
"Dude, personal space doesn't exist within this family" Sam teased.  
Leo shrugged. "Fair enough" he said as he threw his arm around her, although he did so in a way where Sam now had an arm basically covering her head so that she couldn't stand up, similar to what he'd do if he were wrestling Mikey.  
"Okay! Okay I get it!" she said through laughs.  
Leo turned to face her once he let go.  
"Hamato Leonardo. I like it. It rolls off the tongue well" he said with a smile.  
"Right?! Like they all sound good when pronounced it the English format-"  
"English format?" Mikey questioned.  
"Yeah, like first name then last. Michelangelo Hamato. It sounds good right. But when said like how names are pronounced in Japan, last name then first, so Hamato Michelangelo-"  
"That sounds badass!" Mikey stated with wide excited eyes.  
Sam snapped her fingers and then pointed at him. "Exactly!"  
"What made you choose that name?" Donnie asked.  
"What, you don't like it?" She groaned as a means to tease him.  
He chuckled in response. "Actually, I love it. It sounds perfect. I'm just curious why seaside."  
"Why what?" Raph asked.  
"That's what Hamato is known to stand for" Sam responded. "But I chose it more so because of who the name belonged to rather than its meaning. The Hamato clan was known to defend and protect each other until their final breath. They were true warriors who honored the codes of the ninja, but also strongly believed in protecting one another. They lived in the shadows, but they made sure the rest of their clan was their waiting for them when they came back. They didn't go behind each other's back and they didn't betray each other. They were a true family" she said with pride.  
"Awww look at you getting all mushy" Raph said as he ruffled the girl's hair, in which she playfully scowled at him in response.

"Oh that's Sam alright" Jay said as he hopped up onto the small stage. "She has more emotions bottled up in here than she lets on" he said as he rubbed his knuckle against the top of her head.  
He then faced the four brothers.  
"Alright so I have three comments and questions for the four of you. First of all, congratulations Mr, Mr, Mr, and Mr. Hamato" he said as he waved his arm in front of him and then bowed.  
"Second. I wanted to ask this in front of all of you so that no one is keeping secrets from anyone, but this mostly pertains to you" he said as he now pointed straight at Donnie.  
"Me?" Donnie asked, pointing to himself.  
"Yes. So, there's a project that various scientists in the NYFS are working on and we were curious to know if you'd be willing to join us. Now that the Mutanimals live in the sewers they've been exploring and found an awesome underground space that we can use for this project. Don't worry, it's nowhere near your lair, and the few guys working on this project have already seen all of you before and have sworn to keep their mouths shut. What do you guys think?"  
Leo paused for a second. He wanted to trust and assume this would all be safe, but he also needed to take precautions both as leader and also as the 'always worried older brother,'  
Leo looked at Jay and then back towards the rest of his brothers.  
"We all go and check it out the first time to see what precautions you're taking and to meet the people you're working with, and also to learn more about what this project is. That will determine whether he officially participates or not."  
Leo then turned and faced Donatello. "Fair?" he questioned cautiously.  
Donnie nodded with a smile. "Fair."  
Jay clapped and rubbed his hands together in excitement.  
"Awwww this is gonna be awesome! Alright, final comment. PLEASEEEEEE RSVP as soon as possible whether you guys are attending or not. We're still trying to figure out how much food we need and we don't know whether or not we'll be sending plates up to you guys or not so once you know for sure please contact me" he said, holding his hands in front of him as if he was praying for their cooperation.  
Leo chuckled but shot him a puzzled look.  
"Um, sure. But what are we RSVPing for exactly?"  
Then the brothers paused as they began to realize what Jay was talking about.  
"Wait, you don't mean what I think you mean!" Mikey exclaimed with a huge smile on his face.  
"But, how? No way!" Raph stated.  
Jay's eyes were wide and his jaw dropped low.  
"Wait, are you guys serious?" he asked as he looked at the mix of puzzled and thrilled faces in front of him. "SAM!"  
While Jay had been talking to the boys, Sam had momentarily gone over and talked to Casey and Jade, but she was now returning to the stage as she heard her brother shout her name and then frantically wave her over.  
"What's up?"  
Jay stood there with one arm crossed over his stomach and the opposite knuckle resting on his chin. He then stood in front of Sam so that she was turned so that her back was to the guys as he spoke to her.  
"Sam, you told the guys they're invited to the wedding, right?"  
Because Sam was facing Jay she couldn't see the jumping Michelangelo, the jaw dropped older duo, and the smiling-arms behind his head Donatello.  
"Of course I did!" Sam stated, waving her brother away.  
"Really? Tell me how they reacted" Jay said.  
"Well…they…huh" Sam said with her arms crossed as she looked up towards the sky as she tried to remember what she told the turtles…only to realize that she had not, and that meant they were all reacting right now behind her.  
Her eyes widened as she spun around and stared at the now calm brothers after getting their excitement out.  
"Awwwwww you boob you did that on purpose! You didn't even record their reactions for me" she pouted.  
"Well that's what you get for keeping us in the dark!" Donnie teased as he slapped his hands down on her pouting shoulders as he stood behind her.  
"I didn't mean to" she mumbled, "I've just been very busy lately."  
"So, what else haven't you told us?" Raph asked.  
"Oh! Did she tell you she got accepted to Blair?" Mikey asked.  
This time Sam was able to see the boys animated reactions. Of course, right after they decided to tease her as much as possible.  
"Great, so that means we're stuck with you for the next four years?" Raph asked.  
"Oh you're stuck with me way longer than that!" Sam exclaimed.  
"Right, I keep forgetting you're the headache that just keeps coming back over, and over, and over again" he said, rolling his wrist.  
"Exactly! Now even the strongest pill can get rid of me" Sam said with a beaming smile.  
"Man you suck at updating people on important info" Leo mocked.  
Sam opened her mouth to defend herself, but then gritted her teeth together.  
"It's definitely not my strongest quality" she said, scooting back a bit in embarrassment.  
"Soooooo we're going right?" Mikey asked his brothers.  
"How exactly will all of that work?" Donnie asked.  
"So we have two way mirrors that will cover the top pews, that way you guys can sneak in and no one can see you, and then the church we're holding the wedding at has this huge back room where we're holding the reception" Jay informed them. "We'll have the few people who have actually met you guys keeping you up to date on what's happening, and yes we'll feed you" he said as he stared straight at Mikey.  
"Yeah, exactly as I told all of you" Sam said, before she was playfully shoved by all four brothers.  
"We'll be there" Leo said to Jay.  
"WE WILL?!" Mikey basically shrieked.  
"Yes, we will. But only if you behave" Leo said as he now pointed his finger at his youngest brother.  
"What? I'm always…uhhh never mind" he backed off as he saw the glares from his three older brothers.

Just then Chief Vincent returned back to the stage to talk to the brothers.  
Sam and Jay walked back over towards the small crowd and continued to mingle with familiar faces. Of course, Sam was eavesdropping as best as she could even from the further away distance where she was currently standing.  
"I think you should give people more credit" the chief said, "they'll accept you now."  
'They already did, it's your guys who didn't' Sam thought to herself.  
"You're probably right" said Raph's voice, "but uh, I think we'll stick to the arrangement that we already had."  
Sam smiled to herself, happy to hear that she would still get her quality time with the brothers. But then her face became more sunken and serious.  
'Wait…why am I so happy to hear that? I want them to be able to share their uniqueness and quirky abilities with others someday. What the hell?' Sam thought to herself.  
"If you ever need us, April knows where to find us" Leo stated calmly.  
Sam didn't know it, but the reason Leo had only mentioned April's name was because he wanted to keep Sam away from having to talk to the cops (unless she was in danger of course) as much as possible based on everything that had recently happened.  
"Really? You could live a normal life, like the rest of us" the chief stated with enthusiasm.  
This made Sam role her eyes. Of course she wanted the turtles to experience all that life had to offer, but she also loved how different they were. But then she heard Raph say:  
"Normal? What fun is that?"

Sam then turned around when she heard this and stared at the brothers, but she did so at an angle so that she could see them as she stared through the crowd of people, but from their angles they could not see her (or so she thought, since one of them wearing orange had been keeping his eyes on her in secret the entire time without her knowing).  
The chief chuckled. "Well based on what I already know, you four have had some interesting adventures. So I can understand and respect you choosing your lifestyle over ours. Besides, it seems you found some great family members even if you do spend most of your time underground."  
The boys smiled as they each looked out in the same direction that the chief now was at the family they had within the crowd. Mikey however was the only one that noticed Sam spin around once she saw the brothers gaze wash over the crowd.  
He chuckled. "Yeah, our extended family is pretty great" he said in a relaxed tone.  
The chief stared back at the turtles one final time.  
"Any last requests for the night before we all head home?" she asked.  
The brothers looked at each other and noticed that Leo kept looking back at the towering monument behind them.  
"You're allowed up there you know" the chief stated with a smile.  
Leo whipped back around. "We are?"  
She nodded. "I just have to tell the officers that guard this monument so that they know not to leave until you come back down."  
"Whoaaaaaaa. Thanks!" Mikey said enthusiastically.  
The chief laughed. "My pleasure. I'll be right back."

At that moment, Splinter joined the boys on stage.  
"My sons, I'm so proud of each and every one of you" he said with a heartwarming smile.  
"I'm so happy, yet so sad to see each of you grow and mature the way you are" he said genuinely.  
Mikey shot him a confused look. "Why would you be sad dad?"  
The old rat chuckled. "Simple. This means you are no longer the baby boys that I have watched over all these years" he said as he placed his hand on his youngest sons shoulder.  
The four brothers smiled.  
"Dad, you know we're always gonna be around no matter how old we get, right?" Leo reassured with a smile.  
"I know, but all parents feel this way as they see their children grow over time. BUT, tonight is a time for all of you to celebrate together. I on the other hand am going to head home. Don't do anything crazy now" he said with a playful glare towards his sons.  
"Pffff what, us?" Raph teased. "As if."  
"Wait, who are you leaving with? You're not heading home by yourself" Donnie stated.  
Splinter shook his head. "Do not worry my son, I'm heading home with our human companions since it seems they're all leaving now as well."  
The group looked over and saw their human friends walking over to say their final goodbyes.  
While April, Casey, Vern, Jay, and Jade all said goodbye to the oldest three brothers, Mikey pulled Sam away from the group to talk to her.  
"Okay what's happening?" Sam asked a little more awkwardly than she meant to.  
"You're leaving?" he asked as if he had just been punched in the gut.  
"Only for 8 years."  
"WHAT?!"  
"I'm kidding!" she laughed as she pushed his shoulder. "I'm just heading home with Jay so I can help him and Brenda plan their upcoming wedding since important planning was put on hold due to this crazy alien invasion that happened a few days ago. You should have been there for it, it was all over the news!-"  
"Why are you heading home?" Mikey said, interrupting her teasing.  
She shot him a confused look. "I just told you, to help with wedding-"  
"But you can do that any day. Why tonight?" he asked timidly.  
Sam could sense that her friend felt hurt, as if she was ditching him to go hangout with someone else and like she was avoiding them.  
She smiled and began to talk in a more serious tone.  
"Look, when I still had my siblings, there were times where we would all hang out as a family while also inviting all are friends that were as close as family, but there were also times where we wanted people to respect our need to hang out with those that were just family. Sometimes siblings have to just focus on each other. That doesn't mean I'm going away, it means I'm respecting that you guys need time where it's just you. Plus, I know I'm the greatest tomboy out there, but brothers still need times to just be themselves. Just like how there were times I wanted to be alone with my sisters, no matter how different Amber and I were from the other two" she said with a light laugh.  
Mikey shot her a genuine smile. "You look out for us too much" he teased, although this type of teasing had sincerity to it.  
Sam looked him right in the eye and smiled. "Well that's what happens when you have four new younger brothers that take over your life."  
As she spoke, Mikey could sense from the sparkle in her eyes alone how much he and his brothers truly meant to Sam. He hoped that she realized that they all felt the same way about her.  
"Now come on" she said as she spun him around and began to pull on his arm, "let's get back to the group before they start getting suspicious."  
"Heh, okay" he said, although in his mind he was thinking 'suspicious of what?'

Once the two joined the rest of the group Sam updated them that she would be heading home with Jay and Jade (who was also involved in the wedding) to help with wedding planning. The remaining three brothers teased her some, but they didn't need her to go into full details about why she was truly leaving. They all knew her well enough to know where her mindset was at.

With that, the human group began to head out. Splinter went with April, Casey, and Vern, and Sam went with her older brother and Jade.  
As the group was beginning to board the ferry to head back to Battery Park, they all turned around to see the four boys cheering from the top of the statue of liberty.  
"Man they're fast" Jade said with a smile.  
"They're also just insane" Jay teased, knowing his Sensei could hear him.  
"I'd defend them, but they all have their interesting moments. But you didn't hear that from me" the old rat teased.  
Sam laughed and then looked back up at her four turtle brothers. She was happy to see them united as a group once again, and although she had just stated to Mikey that she knew they needed time to hangout by themselves, she'd be a liar if she wasn't hoping that the time she would get to hang out with them again would come by soon.  
'Then again, a small, extremely short break from these guys wouldn't be horrible, especially after those weird random thoughts I had about him the other night' she thought to herself with a shudder (to which she informed a suspicious Jay that it was just the breeze from the cold night's air).  
Minutes later the group arrived back at the port where Sam decided that once she met back up with her brothers, everything would be back to normal…she hoped.

 **Random info: so I listen to a wide variety of music and many times I listen to songs that motivate me to plan out and come up with ideas for future and current events throughout the series. If anyone is interested, I would highly recommend listening to the song Beautiful Creatures by Illenium. Like if you listen to the lyrics you can twist them so that it fits the lives and goals of the turtles, at least those are the images I've been picturing as I listen to that song (that and the vocals and more techno instrumental sound is insanely addicting). But seriously I could see this song being a perfect way to end a TMNT film as the credits come up. Kind of like how at the end of Out of the Shadows they had a new remixed version of the 80's theme playing while those cartoon images of the cast were played along the with the cast's names, I could see this song being used for something like that and being the perfect end to a TMNT movie.**


	46. Chapter 46

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #46

 ***Saturday July 4** **th** **, 2015. Church, 12p.m.***

The turtles were now making their way up towards the top pews of the church. April, Kris, and Irma had all lead the boys in through a back entrance so that no one would see them. As April guided them upstairs she had instructed them that one of them (or Casey once he arrived later on) would provide further instructions, but for now they would just be chilling out in the top pews. There was one way glass that had been built in so that viewers from the top pews would not be a distraction, and it was also a safety feature.

The turtles watched as people in all sorts of fancy clothes continued to enter the church.  
Mikey frowned as he looked at the people down below.  
"Where's Sam at? Is she running late?" he asked.  
"Don't worry. She's taking forever to get ready since she can't do her own hair and make-up, but Kris said she's in the building" Donnie reassured.  
"Then where is she?" Raph asked as he also looked throughout the crowd below.  
"She's in the bridal party. Based on tradition, that means she will not enter our sights until the precession has begun."  
"Is that why the music's playing?" Mikey asked as loud organs began to ring throughout the church.  
"It should be" Donnie said with a smile.  
"You texted him right?" Leo asked.  
"Yesssssss, don't worry!" Mikey stated as he made his hand form an 'o.k.' symbol.  
Jay had instructed the boys ahead of time to send him a text as to when they arrived at the church. None of them were exactly sure why they needed to do this, and even Sam was dumbfounded (or so she pretended to be) as to knowing why her brother had instructed the turtles to do this.  
"Oh hey, the chief is here" Raph stated as he pointed to the woman who was taking a seat with some officers who were dressed in their uniforms.  
"I wish she would get back to us about the information we sent her. It's freaking me out that we sent her that recording and she hasn't replied to us in any way yet" Donnie slightly frantically stated.

A couple of weeks previous, the turtles had sat down with Sam and recorded everything that she had to say in regards to what happened when they were all on the Technodrome. Each turtle contributed in explaining all that had happened, but the turtles were shocked to hear Sam mention what happened at the very end of the battle.  
According to Sam, a group of small 'humans with pointy ears and bright spikey colored hair' that had shrunk themselves down where you could only see and hear them if they were right in front of your eyes and ears had provided Sam with a mutagen that would allow her to read Krangs mind for literally 10 seconds. This was what Sam had used in order to jab her hand into the tentacles that were located in the back of his head.  
Obviously Sam could not learn everything in 10 seconds, but she learned that he was the leader of an army of other small Krang, and also of some environmental beings such as rock soldiers.  
She had learned that Krang had taken over multiple other planets throughout what was apparently an incredibly huge galaxy and that although him and his ship were damaged pretty badly, he was far from being done with Earth and with the turtles.  
Sam had stated that the weird looking people that gave her the chemicals to learn all this by connecting her nerves with Krangs were known as the Neutrinos, but the oldest brothers still weren't sure how true all this was.  
What was currently upsetting Donnie was that they had sent this recording to Vincent, but she had yet to say anything back. For whatever reason this just left him with a bad feeling.

Donnie then felt someone nudge his arm. He turned to his left to see Leo staring at him with concerned features.  
"Hey, don't worry about it for now. Right now we're here for our family. If Vincent is planning something, then we're not going to worry about it for this one day."  
Donnie nodded with a smile.  
"Ohhhhh I think it's starting!" Mikey screamed into a whisper.  
The four brothers looked forward as they saw the groomsmen and the bridesmaids enter the church in pairs of two.  
The men were all wearing sharp black tuxes, and the women that all came in were wearing gorgeous pastel colored dresses. They came in wearing purple, orange, yellow, pink, and blue pastel colors, and each woman looked stunning in their color, as if the pastel shade was created for them to wear themselves.  
"Not to sound totally rude, by why are they all Asian?" Raph asked.  
"Jay's family grew up in a community that consisted of mostly Asian American citizens, and since Sam's family was so close to them, they practically got to know everyone in their neighborhood. These are the people that Jay and Brenda have practically known since birth, hence Sam being friends with all their younger brothers" Mikey stated aloud.  
The other three brothers then looked over towards their youngest with curiosity.  
"And you know this, how?" Leo asked.  
Mikey shrugged. "I asked questions when she showed me pictures of rehearsals, she answered my questions" he said bluntly.  
"Whoa" Raph muttered.

The rest of the boys looked forward and now they knew why Raph had made his comment.  
Walking in now was Sam, but this was a new Sam.

This Sam's hair had been straightened and slightly curled inwards at the ends. This Sam had eyeliner that made her usually dark brown eyes look as if they were bright colored orbs. This Sam had long lashes and hints of green eye shadow that matched perfectly to the light red blush on her cheeks. This Sam had just the perfect touch of light pink that was only hints away from being a more skin toned lip gloss that made her lips shine and look smooth and luscious. This Sam had obviously used lotions that made her skin glow in a way that no one had ever seen before. This Sam was wearing white heals that emphasized how long her legs truly were, and how slim and fit they were and that showed off her painted tone nails.  
She wore a long pastel green a line dress (something that would make the tomboy feel comfortable while also meeting the quota of being 'dressed appropriately for a wedding').

The boys all stared in amazement. In the little over a year they had known the girl they had only ever seen her wear jeggings, sweatpants, or co-ed sporty shorts, so seeing her in a dress, and in heels, and with make-up on…it was a lot to take in.

"Wow" Donnie muttered, "I knew she was gonna have to clean up for this, but Sam looks beautiful." He looked down at the girl with slightly widened eyes. He was so used to seeing her nerdy side, since the two nerded out together every time they hung out, so seeing Sam look like a typical girl and not her tomboy sporty self was astonishing. The transformation was so beautifully surreal.

Leo was staring at her the same way, but with a small smile. While he agreed that Sam looked gorgeous, more than anything he was happy to see that Sam was walking straight and was keeping calm. Knowing her, she had to be mentally freaking out dressed that way. She wouldn't care that all eyes were on her, she was used to that, she was worried about being dressed the way she was.  
"She's doing good so far. She hasn't stumbled or frozen up."

"When did she learn how to walk in heels? She literally told me she falls every time she even tries them on" Raph chuckled. He didn't want to be rude, but he never expected Sam to look like the girl that he was looking at right now. As he thought this he thought back to his conversation with Sam when she learned he was holding Chuck's old nunchuk and how she didn't want people to think differently of her because she was a girl, or because of her past. He mentally swore to himself that he wouldn't go overboard in telling her how beautiful she was (even though she truly was a remarkable sight to look upon) in order to protect her feelings.

Mikey felt the same way as Raph to certain extents, but as he stared down with wide eyes at his best friend he also felt disappointment rise up within him. Mikey knew that Sam was cute, and he knew that she had an attractive build from being physically fit, but he had never viewed her the same way that he was now.  
Why hadn't he ever thought of her as the beautiful being that he was staring at right now? Of course, he knew that the Sam down below was an illusion, and he knew that this may literally be the only time he ever saw Sam dressed this way, so that had played a major role in why he had never expected her to look as stunning as she did now…but he felt ashamed in realizing that it wasn't until he saw her this way for him to see how much true and natural beauty she truly carried within her.  
He should have realized how beautiful she was from the beginning. He should have recognized her beauty when she had her sweaty hair pulled back in a ponytail during training, not now when it was straightened so that not one fly away lay on her head. He should have recognized that Sam had curves just like any woman and not just noticed her figure now while she wore a dress that comfortably hugged her body. He should have realized that Sam would have rocked a pair of heels even though all he had ever seen he wear were sporty or skater shoes.  
Was it because she was like his sister, or because since day one she had expressed her tomboy-isms that he had never imagined her to look the way she did now?  
He mentally vowed that when he met up with his friend again that he wouldn't gush over her like he was in his mind just now, but instead would mentally remind himself that Sam was still a girl and that being a tomboy didn't mean he should ignore everything that she was and could be in every way. He would still treat her the same, but in certain ways he would make sure to show more respect towards her. That's what a best friend should do.

"Heh, I bet Kris is happy right now" Leo said with a smirk.  
"Does she still like him?" Raph asked. "I know she's mentioned that in the past they were inseparable."  
"She's never mentioned anything about it if she does" Mikey stated.  
"Oh he's definitely happy though, look there and you can see his face" Donnie said as he pointed to a piece of glass from the window of the church.  
As Kris and Sam continued to walk down the aisle a chunk of the glass revealed Kris's face, and he was smiling as if today was the greatest day of his life. Granted, his older sister was getting married today, but the boys also had a feeling that it was because of the beautiful girl that was holding onto his arm as they walked down the aisle together.  
"He's smiling more than she is though" Leo noticed.  
"She's probably just better at staying calm" Donnie teased.  
"Ohhh there's Brenda!" Mikey stated aloud.  
Everyone throughout the church rose from their seats as Brenda entered the church and slowly began to walk down the aisle.  
Since Brenda had lost her father years before her family was forced into the Foot, Irma, Brenda's mother, did the honors of walking her daughter down the aisle towards her fiancée.  
"I wonder what her face looks like, since Jay is beaming" Mikey wondered aloud as he stared at his brother figure who couldn't wipe the smile off his face even if he wanted to.

Finally Brenda had reached the front of the room and was now standing across from her soon to be husband. The turtles couldn't make out what she was whispering to Jay, but they saw the two smiling and then saw Jay turn towards everyone in the pews.

"Before we begin our ceremony, many of you know that we have some special guests with us today. None of us can see them, but Brenda and I are grateful they were able to make it today. We both would like to thank them, because without their help, this marriage would never have had the chance to become official. And not only have I and my fiancée been affected by these four, but almost everyone in this room is able to live their lives freely because of the four heroes that joined us the day we broke free from the Foot's hold. Although we cannot see you, the people in this room have been waiting for the moment where they can formally thank you for everything you have given back to them. So, shadows in the night, we thank you."  
As Jay said these final words, he and Brenda then bowed forward as they faced the non-see through glass high up-above.  
The four brothers were shocked since they had no idea that this was happening, and even though none of them but Mikey would have ever admitted it, but each of them felt as if they might cry as every single person in the church stood up, turned around, and then slightly bowed forward in the direction the turtles were standing in from up above.  
The brothers looked down and saw faces, young and old, faces of all colors coming from different backgrounds, all types of people that were bowing with huge smiles on their faces. They even saw a few young hands waving upwards as if they personally saw who was behind the glass.  
"This is incredible" Donnie muttered with a smile.  
"Guys, we have the best human family ever" Mikey sniffed.  
Leo nodded. "We do, we really do."  
"Even now he's still protecting us, they all are" Raph said as he saw April and Sam stand up straight as they looked upwards with beaming smiles.

Soon everyone was standing and sitting in their proper stances, and the wedding continued on. The turtles had only seen wedding ceremonies on television, so it was a true honor to actually witness something so beautiful up close and in person. The scenery, the filled church with friends and loved ones, the words from the vows being shared that demonstrated how much these two cared for each other. The manliest of men couldn't deny how incredible it was to be a part of this event.

Finally the couple had reached the final step in the ceremony: the kiss that binded them as husband and wife. Of course Mikey was in tears because this was such a magical moment. Raph was keeping it together, but holy shit he was so close to crying as well because of how beautiful the vows alone were.  
He tried to calm himself by starting conversation.  
"So what do we do now?" he asked.  
"Well, the instructions were to wait for further instructions, so we do that" Donnie said as he rubbed his brother's shoulders, sensing that his older macho brother was fighting back tears.  
Just on time, April entered the space.  
"Hey guys, and Mikey these are for you" she said with a smile as he handed him a full box of tissues.  
"April you're the best" he wailed as more tears began to fall.  
"So what's the plan?" Leo asked.  
"So once it's clear I'm going to lead you to the upper rafts of the back room where the reception is being held. That area has lights and all different mechanics for shows and dances and stuff, so they have these rafts that you can walk across almost like it's a movie set. You guys are gonna camp out up there and people are going to keep coming up and checking on you."  
April looked down at her phone.  
"Alright Casey says the main guests have left. The only ones left in the church are family members of the bridal party who want to take pictures. Now's the time to move."

And just like April said, the boys were now relocated to the walkways above what was being used as the reception hall. The hall was decorated to look just as gorgeous as the church had. The centerpieces contained pictures of the bride and groom from childhood all the way up until when Jay had proposed. A slideshow of all these pictures was also playing in the front of the hall. The table cloths were all pastel colors, which seemed to be the color scheme of this wedding, and there were vases of beautiful pastel shaded roses all throughout the room. The guests were all participating in some fun games and activities that were scattered throughout the room until finally everyone in the bridal party had arrived.  
The bride and groom had their first dance, Kris and Sam both read their heartwarming speeches that they had written, Irma had made a lovely toast, and then everyone began to eat and mingle.

Then came the next unique portion of the night, the group dances.  
Right before the dances began, the four boys got a message from April that read 'if you tease Sam about what happens next, she said she will literally ignore you for a year.'  
The boys all looked down towards where Sam was sitting at the head table right next to Brenda, wondering what the hell was about to happen that she would be so embarrassed by it.  
That's when the music began to play.  
"Is…is this from High School Musical?" Raph asked.  
Leo raised a brow as he smiled at his brother.  
"And you know that how?"  
"And you know I'm right, how?" Raph grunted with an irked expression.  
"It is!" Mikey announced as he held his hands together.  
"Guys, it was all our childhood, as men we can admit that we all saw those movies. Don't make it weird" Donnie said as he nudged his older brothers.  
As 'Can I Have This Dance?' came on and played throughout the room, the boys watched as each groomsmen took the hand of a bridesmaid and walked out towards the dance floor where the bride and groom were already standing together and beginning their portion of the dance.  
Of course Sam was paired with Kris and the two were now dancing hand in hand.  
While some of the other pairings were giggling and even making other guests watching laugh playfully because they accidentally miss-stepped or maybe were a bit goofy because someone in the duo was overly confident or a bit more shy than the other, Sam and Kris being the dancers they were, were in sync throughout the entire performance.

Mikey felt weird as the first chorus ended and Kris and Sam now parted ways and then joined up with others in the group. After the first chorus all the pairs ended up splitting up and dancing with others in the group. The turtles tried to remember who the faces were of the men that Sam was now dancing with since she had shown them so many pictures of people she and Jay were friends with.  
Mikey (and the other brothers) watched as Sam moved on to dance with Ryan (Kevin's older brother) as their hands connected and the two twirled towards the next pair where Sam was passed on to Jason, and then not long after to Eric (both being Key's older brothers). She was then guided towards Henry (Ken's older brother) and then finally towards a man named Justin who didn't have any siblings who were Sam's age, but who had still grown up being close friends with Jay.  
Mikey felt weird for being happier to see Sam dance with these other men than when she was dancing with Kris. He lightly shook his head, not wanting to concern his brothers, as he tried to shake these thoughts from his mind. Why would he ever think that? He was Sam's best friend, he should be happy when she was happy, yet these weird feelings came back as Sam reunited with Kris on the dance floor.

All the women were then lifted up into the air as the men spun around and continued on with the motion of the dance. Then it happened again and Mikey felt his chest begin to hurt.  
'Man it must be hot up here or something' he thought to himself, 'that's gotta be it.'  
He then watched as Sam was dipped by Kris and how she clung to him so that she wouldn't fall. He then saw for the first time the smile on her face that now matched the smile on her partner's face.  
"Awwww look how happy she is" Leo stated genuinely.  
"Can I tease her about that?" Raph said with a devilish grin.  
"Heh, yeah. If you have a death wish" Donnie teased.  
While the other brothers were enjoying the dance and were thrilled to see Sam so happy, Mikey just felt…weird. As much as he loved to see Sam dance and be happy, he just felt…not like himself.  
The boys then watched as Kris lifted Sam up in a move where he held her from behind. One of Sam's arms was wrapped around Kris while the other was thrust into the air, while her body was leaned back and curled as Kris spun them around.  
'They look like their meant for each other…I have to get used to this' Mikey thought to himself. He then concluded that this feeling was brotherly instinct, because of course he wanted Sam to be happy just like his brothers had been commenting on seconds ago, but seeing her with Kris just didn't feel right. It had to be his brotherly intuition of not wanting her to get her heartbroken.

Somehow this had helped put Mikey at ease as the dance number concluded.  
He also assumed this was the case because as the song repeated (it had been edited so that it was much longer than the original) his weird feelings went away as Sam began to dance with other guys. Each member of the wedding party was now branching out and pulling spectating guests out onto the dance floor to dance with them (although this was already rehearsed). Sam went down the line of pulling the rest of the members of the '5K' out onto the dance floor. First she danced with Key, then Kyle, then Kevin, and then Ken. The final person she had pulled out onto the dance floor was Casey. It was perfect that he ended up attending and agreeing to participate since they were outnumbered during planning, so Casey was part of the final group to be pulled onto the dance floor and soon after was paired up with April.

At this point Sam was now dancing with Jay while Kris was now dancing with Brenda, the two couple of siblings in the middle of the dance floor while everyone else paused and watched.  
This was when Mikey knew that his feelings were just brotherly and nothing more. He hadn't felt weird as he watched Sam dance with the other men in the wedding party, and he didn't feel weird as he watched Sam dance with the rest of her guy friends. This had to be proof that his feelings were just of brotherly worry because he knew that Sam had a crush on Kris in the past and he assumed she still had those feelings now that her human childhood friend had now reconnected with her once everything about them being tied to the Foot had been revealed.

None of the brothers would admit this to the others, but they all felt a strange feeling as they watched Sam dance with Kris. They were all so used to Sam being her dorky tomboy self that they had never considered picturing her with other guys. They didn't care that she had other guy friends, and they all knew that she would obviously attract someone someday, but since she was their sister they all worried about her getting hurt. And based on everything she had told them, they all knew that her and Kris's friendship was a unique case because of their ties to the Foot. They all wanted nothing more than for her to be happy and to be with someone that treated her right. Oh god if she ever dated a guy that wronged her, he would be a deformed bloody pulp in mere seconds. They were her brothers now and they were always going to worry about her, so of course it was only natural for their protective instincts to kick in. They would never tell Casey, but they had told April that they were keeping their eyes on Casey as well. So far he had been checking out and they could sense he was a good guy (Raph had especially grown closer to the man in the same way that Leo had grown personally closer to Jay), but they were continuously going to keep an extra close eye on him simply because they could sense that the two had a connection, and again, if anyone ever hurt April, well let's just say they would regret it for the rest of their life.

The humans down below continued on with their group routines as all the women danced (and kicked ass while doing so) to CL's Baddest Female, and the guys looked…interesting as they danced to Enrique Iglesias's "Finally Found You." There were multiple other dance routines that went on, some that were surprises and some that were even spontaneous. The choreographed dancing ended with Jay and Brenda dancing together to a faster paced and then a slow song. All the turtles cared about the entire time they watched these fancy and comical routines was that Sam had the hugest smile on her face the entire time.  
Leo shook his head.  
"Can you believe she was going to turn herself in and throw all of this away?" he asked in a saddened tone.  
"We'll never let her do that" Donnie said as he looked over at his brother, "we're gonna make sure she looks like that for the rest of her life" he said as he pointed to Sam who was now happily dancing with her female friends now that everyone was dancing freely.  
"Do you think we can do that?" Raph asked.  
The brothers all looked at him funny.  
"What do you mean?" Donnie asked.  
"Well look at her, she's with people and she's smiling like crazy."  
"She smiles with us" Mikey stated defensively.  
"Well yeah, but with people, it has to be different. She deserves moments like that down there, and she can't have that if she's always with us-"  
"And we won't let that happen either" Leo cut in.  
"What?" Mikey asked, astounded at hearing his brother hear that they would keep Sam away from them.  
"Not like that" Leo stated, "but we'll make sure she lives her life to the fullest and doesn't purposefully stay behind to wait for us. Obviously we want to spend time with her, she's our sister now, but we also have to push her towards hanging out with people like she is now. She deserves those happy moments as well."  
"It's like when she told us which university she was going to" Donnie added. "We made her literally write us a list of reasons why she wanted to attend Blair in order to prove that she wasn't attending just to stay near us and keep us happy rather than travel somewhere further away and explore the world."  
Mikey nodded his head, now he understood and he agreed.  
"Now I get you, and I agree. We will take care of our sis and protect her, but we also need to encourage her to live her life and not always worry about us. That's what real friends, real brothers would do" he said confidently.  
"Yeah, but we have to keep an eye out on that" Raph scoffed as he pointed down at Kris who now playfully wrapped his arm around Sam's waist as she then threw her arm over his shoulder in return.  
"Oh for sure!" Mikey exclaimed as he formed O's with his hands and brought them towards his eyes as if looking through binoculars.  
Donnie and Leo just laughed at the other two.  
"Guys, we'll obviously keep an eye on him, but he's been a good guy so far. He's level headed and family oriented and he's been nothing but respectful and caring whenever we met him" Leo reassured.  
"Ehhhh I don't know, he just seems fishy" Mikey said as he rubbed his chin.  
"Yeah, and he upset her when she lost her family" Raph added with a grunt.  
Donnie sighed. "Unfortunately that's true, but it was with best intentions. He was trying to protect her-"  
"And he hurt her even more instead" Raph huffed.  
"Well her own brother kept secrets from her as well, does that mean she shouldn't be close to him anymore either?" Leo questioned.  
Raph and Mikey looked at each other and sighed.  
"He has a point" Mikey said glumly.  
"Tch, Leo always makes a good point, especially when Donnie is on his side."  
"Point for leader and brains" Donnie said enthusiastically as he and his oldest brother high fived.

Not long after, April and Casey brought food up to the guys and the two kept the four company for about an hour as people down below continued to mingle.  
April stared down through the openings along the ceiling and watched Sam as she was currently jamming out with her friends.  
April laughed as she shook her head. "That girl is definitely something else."  
Raph peeked down and noticed that Sam was now adding a lot more hip into her dancing.  
"Something else is right" he said as he looked away.  
"Awwww you guys don't like seeing Sam dance like a lady" Casey teased as he saw the way the guys were watching over her as she added hips and ass to her dancing.  
"We did enjoy seeing you dance" Leo teased. As he raised his glass to drink he sent a mocking glare towards Casey as he looked over the edge of the glass.  
"Hey I rocked that routine, don't hate on it!" Casey laughed.  
"Well you should have, that was super easy!" Mikey said as he waved his hand forward.  
"Psh, I wanna see you do better" Casey teased.  
Mikey just laughed in response, but in his head he wanted to tell the group that he could do better because he had helped Sam come up with a routine that was ten times better, but for whatever reason the routine that had been performed had been dumbed down by a lot!  
"So, I've been instructed to inform you guys that Sam will not be visiting you tonight" April said in a depressed yet gentle tone.  
Donnie nodded his head. "Well that makes sense."  
April tilted her head to the side. "It does?"  
"Well yeah, she's embarrassed for us to see her dressed the way she is. She's told us before that peoples thoughts of her in her dress and makeup was her biggest worry about the wedding."  
April nodded.  
"Besides, she's happy down there. We don't want to disrupt that" Leo said genuinely.  
April shot him and the rest of the brothers an odd look.  
"You…you guys know she's the happiest when she's with you, right?"  
The guys shrugged.  
"Well yeah," Raph started, "but obviously she can't hang out with us the way she's hanging out with those people down there."  
"Okay no!" April announced, waving her hand in front of her to deny what Raph said, "that specific situation down below doesn't count because those are females. She wouldn't dance that way with any guy ever in general."  
'Ahhhh so Sam sees me as a fellow female companion. I guess that's fair, I have been seeing her as one of the guys all this time' Mikey thought to himself as he recalled moments where he and Sam had jokingly danced the same way together as she was now with her 'girlfriends.' He thought this as he continued to watch over her, unlike his brothers who would break their gaze in order to turn and talk to April and Casey.  
"Don't worry April" Leo stated, "we know we're important to Sam, but we also just want to make sure she's living her life to the fullest and not holding back for us" Leo kindly reassured.  
"Jay must be so happy to have you guys in his life" Casey said as he threw an arm around Raph's shoulder as a means to tease his new favorite mutant friend.

The group continued to talk for a while longer and then the two humans returned to the event being held down below.  
The reception lasted for a few more hours and then guests began to make their leave.  
Sam headed home with a few friends so that she could go change at her apartment and get into comfy clothes.  
Jay and Brenda were about to leave for their honeymoon, but they wanted to greet and thank their green friends before they disappeared for the next two weeks.  
April and Casey guided the boys towards an alley behind the church and soon after they arrived, the bride and groom met up with them.  
A thrilled Brenda ran up and gave each brother a huge hug, and Jay being the big dork he was followed in her footsteps.  
"Congratulations you guys, you definitely go well together" Leo teased as the goofy man caught up to his silly wife.  
"Thanks man. It's crazy because we've always been together, but making things official is the greatest feeling in the world" Jay said as he kept his arms wrapped around his wife.  
"So cute… you're giving me cavities" Mikey said as he pretended to faint.  
"Ahhhh I just wish Sam was here. I'm so sorry about her behavior you guys."  
"What are you talking about?" Raph questioned.  
"She didn't visit you guys or anything! Like you're her best friends and her family!"  
"And that's why we get it" Mikey stated. "She didn't want us to gush over her, which I'm sure TONS of people did that today." He said this last part with a raised brow, questioning Jay as to whether this was the case or not.  
The man sighed. "You've got a point. I just don't want you guys to get the wrong idea as to why she didn't come up to visit you."  
"Hey, don't worry about it. We know her well enough to know where her head's at" Leo said as he pat the man on the shoulder.  
Jay couldn't help but smile. "Thanks Leo, I'm so glad she has the four of you. Oh! Sam also told me she is going to visit you guys tonight, but to give her some time to get herself cleaned up since she has to wash away tons of makeup and hair product."  
"What? She gets an apartment to herself for two weeks and she's gonna come down and hangout with us?" Raph teased.  
"Well someone has to babysit her" Jay replied. "Besides, her new roommate hasn't moved in yet so she'll be lonely."  
"Oh, who's her new roommate?" Donnie asked.  
Brenda rolled her eyes. "I love her, but wow she sucks at telling you guy's new news. My brother will be moving in once we officially move all of Jay's stuff out. It's close to his university, so he's going to live with her so it's easier for him to commute to campus. Plus that way he sort of can get a taste of what it'll be like to be independent, even though the two of us and my mom still will live nearby" she chuckled.  
All four boys eyes widened some and Jay picked up on this.  
"Oh, do you four disapprove?" Jay teased.  
"Aren't they like a couple?" Raph asked.  
Jay looked down at the ground for a few seconds before looking back up and answering the question.  
"Their situation…it's a bit odd. If life had played out the way we all thought it would, then honestly yes those two would probably be a couple by now, but things didn't go according to plan. They've reconnected and are great friends again, but it's hard to say if they'll ever go back to the same type of extremely close friendship that could lead to more than that, you know?"  
Raph nodded his head. "Alright, just checking."  
Once again, Jay couldn't help but smile at this turtle, and then at all the turtles protective expressions as they nodded their heads in approval of what they had just heard.

The group continued to chat for a bit and then said their goodbyes.  
Casey drove April home, so the boys decided to head back down to the lair since there was a manhole cover in the alley where they all had been talking.  
Everyone went their separate ways and decided to kick back and relax after being in a setting of loud chatter and blaring music.  
Mikey was looking at the clock and waiting for two hours to go by. That's when it would be dark outside and he could go check up on Sam, who still had yet to come down to the lair.  
Mikey didn't bother to send a message to his brothers about where he was heading because he knew that if they were against him going to check on Sam then they would have stopped him before he had left the lair.

About 5 minutes later he was knocking on Sam's window. The blinds were closed, so he wasn't sure if she still had company over. He told himself that he would wait for 5 minutes and then would head home, but within 5 seconds the blinds opened and a smiling Sam quickly opened up the window.  
"Hey, sorry" she said through gritted teeth, showing how awkward she felt.  
Sam waved Mikey in and he carefully made his way into the familiar bedroom.  
"What are you apologizing for?" he asked cautiously.  
"Because I told Jay to tell you that I would head down to your place soon, and yet here I am still getting ready. I was so exhausted that I crashed as soon as I got home and literally just got out of the shower like 20 minutes ago."  
Mikey chuckled. "Sam, you were kicking major ass on the dance floor. A dancer NEVER apologizes for that!" he said with a smirk.  
Her playful smile then turned into a flat lined expression as her tone became more serious.  
"I also have something else to apologize for, I-"  
"NO!" Mikey said as he threw his arm out and held his hand out as to say 'stop.'  
"Do NOT apologize for not coming to see us!"  
Sam pursed her lips. "But!-"  
"HUSH CHILD! There is no need! We know you well enough to know why you didn't come up and visit us. You were having fun with your people…well, people-people! Human beings, and we get that. We also know you were embarrassed because of your attire."  
Sam's face began to turn red as she looked away when he mentioned how she was dressed.  
"Sooooooo you hungry? You can grab whatever you want from the kitchen while I finish getting everything I need."  
"How much stuff do you need for one sleepover?" Mikey asked, taking mental note as to how Sam was avoiding talking about how she was dressed for the wedding.  
Sam laughed out loud.  
"One? Oh no, you're stuck with me for 2 weeks" she said with a devilish grin.  
Mikey looked like he had just won the lottery because of how excited he was.  
"What?! Do the guys know?!"  
"Not until I tell them" Sam said with a smirk.  
"Ohhhhh it's going to be a fun two weeks my friend!" Mikey said. "Oh! How come you guys changed the dance?" he asked.  
Sam paused as she tried to understand what he was talking about, then the light bulb went off.  
"Oh! The group dance? Unfortunately the dresses we were wearing weren't flexible enough to handle the routine you and I came up with. Trust me I get why you're upset, our routine was wayyyyy more fun and intricate than the final product" she said with a pouty face.  
"Oh I'm not upset! I just thought that maybe you took other people's input and didn't want mine AND THAT'S FINE!" he announced as he saw Sam turn towards him defensively as if she was about to start rambling on about how that wasn't true.  
"But I would never do that to you" Sam said softly. "So it's not fine. Trust me if I had more of a say than everyone would have been doing our routine. Although, to a certain extent I'm kind of glad that I didn't dance our routine, I mean it is ours for a reason."  
Mikey was confused. "Wait, what?"  
"Well the two of us came up with the original routine. I don't think I could perfectly pull off what we came up with unless I was dancing with you" she said as her back was turned towards Mikey as was folding some clothes into a larger overnight duffle bag.  
Mikey was glad that Sam couldn't see his face or else she would see the heartwarming smile that he was currently displaying. Something that only she and he could do together, something about that just sounded nice and made him feel very happy.  
He didn't want her to see his dorkily-happy expression, so he excused himself and thought of a reason to leave the room.  
"I'll be back in just a minute" he said as he walked out of the room and headed towards the kitchen to get some snacks.

Sam smiled as she went back to packing her bag.  
'Phew!' she thought to herself, 'I'm so glad he caught the hint and dropped the topic. I hate when guys tell me I'm beautiful only because I looked feminine for a day, and then compliment me like that anymore. I hate false compliments, and I'll especially hate that from him, my best friend. I just hope his brothers catch on and react the same way' she thought to herself.

Lucky for her, Sam had the best brothers any girl could ask for. They never said anything about her dress…but the oldest three did tease her about Kris. It was definitely a fun 2 weeks.

 **Dear Guest on Chapter 45: I was a bit irked to hear the new movie will be a reboot since I personally feel like there was still so much that could have been added onto the 2014 and 2016 films, but I'm hoping that they put some consideration into what fans want to see and how they portray the turtles. I also hope they continue on with providing the turtles with their own unique personalities. Within every series I love seeing the difference between the turtles, and I also love how in the later series new emotions and character traits have been added onto each turtle as well. For example, 2012 cartoon Raph being every animal's best friend and Leo having extremely adorkable and funny moments which I feel is uncommon for him. I also loved their look in the 2016 film and loved how they wore clothes, I hope they keep that up, even if it's just simple black shorts which I am loving in the 2018 cartoon.**

 **Dear Guest on Chapter 43: Oh trust me I would love for this story to turn into a comic book or even a chapter book. Like if this could somehow become a job for me then I would take that job on headstrong as best as I could!**

 **I just wanted to address some more recent comments made by guests, because all comments mean the world to me and I want you all to know that I read everything you all have to say :) Thank you all for your support as always!**


	47. Chapter 47

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

 ****Chapter #47

 ***Saturday July 11** **th** **, 2015. 3a.m. at the lair-or so we think*  
*Theme: All Time Low-Nightmares***

 ****"Why…Why can't you just learn to shut up and listen?!" Sam shouted, still standing in place where she was now a few steps away from Raph. "Do you honestly think I wanted this? You think that I openly joined that shitty clan? I'd rather die than loyally join them! But you wouldn't know that because you can't keep your mouth shut!"  
Sam now slowly started walking forward towards Raph, whose shell was still stuck in the wall after she had kicked him in her rage.  
"Sam, wait-"  
"SHUT UP!" As Sam screamed out, forceful wind gusts flew out to the sides of her body. "You don't know anything, god there's still so much that you don't yet know and understand. But hey, months of getting to know someone obviously doesn't mean shit to you. Someone telling you about the most terrifying and scarring parts of their life obviously DOESN'T MEAN SHIT to you. Watching someone breakdown in front of you, open their heart to you, you saw all of that fist hand, and how do you react? You degrade that person's family and call them a liar! This is why I didn't come to you guys in the first place, I knew you would react this way, ESPECIALLY YOU! I knew I made the right decision when I did and you've given me all the proof I need that I never should have trusted you EVER. You know how trapped you feel right now, that fear of not being able to control a damn thing that's about to happen to you? I've been living that way since Thursday night. Wrong, I've been living that way my entire life! You're right, my life is so fucked up that I am broken, and now you're going to know what it's like to be broken to."

Sam paused…where were the others? This was when Mikey was supposed to link arms with her and pull her back, when Leo was supposed to shove her away and then Donnie pin her neck against the wall with his bo. This was when the three prevented her from killing her brother by punching his face to mush, so where were they?  
"They're not coming" Raph mumbled.  
Sam looked up in horror as she saw Raph was now missing an eye, as if it had literally just been ripped from his face.  
Sam just stood there, covering her mouth since she sensed she was about to throw up.  
"Isn't this what you wanted?" Raph asked, as small drips of blood escaped from his lips as he spoke. "This is what you wanted. You knew that if you let me make you mad that this would happen."  
"No-" she choked out, only to continue to be cut off the turtle in front of her who continued to look worse and worse every time she had the guts to somehow look back at him.  
"Yes, you knew Shredder was experimenting on you and yet you still took those pills to help you get out of those restraints. And then you got into an argument with me, knowing you would turn into a monster and would kill me-"  
"I NEVER MEANT TO KILL YOU!" Sam shrieked as she looked back at Raph as the tears were pouring from her eyes.  
More and more tears poured from her sockets as she saw that Raph's face was now black and blue. His face had changed color so drastically that only the green from the rest of his skin proved that his face had ever been green at all.  
"And yet you were going to. That punch, if you were lucky enough to calm yourself to only throw one, would have crushed my skull. My brain wouldn't exist anymore. You wanted to murder me." As Raph spoke his voice slowly became louder and louder.  
"I never wanted-"  
"But you were going to! You had no self-control and my life meant that little to you!"  
"It wasn't me, I needed to get away so I inject some mutagen-"  
"Knowing it would give you strength! Strength so that you could KILL ME!"  
"No! I-"  
"YOU'RE A MURDERER! YOU WANTED TO KILL AND YOU WERE GOING TO! If my brothers hadn't shown up then what do you think you were going to do Sam?!"  
At this point Raph had somehow gained the strength to remove himself from the wall and he was now walking towards Sam.  
"Raph, please-"  
"WERE WE GONNA HUG IT OUT?! I DON'T THINK SO! I knew what you wanted and you were a second away from stealing my life, the life of one of your best friends, of one of your brothers! WHAT SISTER TRIES TO KILL HER OWN FAMILY?!" Raph bellowed as his voice echoed off the walls of the dojo. That's when he marched right up to her and grabbed her by the neck. He pulled her so that her ear from her shaking head was right in front of his mouth.  
"Well, since you intended to kill me, I guess I'll have to fight back in self-defense" he whispered, and once the words escaped his bleeding lips, he slammed her face first into the ground.  
Sam was too shocked to speak as he pulled her back up, his hand still gripped onto her neck.  
Sam could feel that her nose was broken and she could taste the blood in her mouth from all different types of cuts. She was amazed that she could feel or taste anything as the air was being prevented from entering her body to allow her to breathe because of the grip around her neck.  
"How does it feel Sam? To die from having your face bashed in again and again?" Raph snarled as he repeatedly slammed Sam's face against the concrete beneath them.  
Sam then began to howl in pain. She happened to look into a piece of broken glass that just happened to be on the ground nearby and saw that her face now resembled his: her nose had been crushed, where his eye was gone that eye of hers was completely bloodshot red, there were cuts and small chunks taken from her ear lobes (matching the patches of skin scratched off along the sides of his head), her lips were cut and bloodied, and her cheeks were black, blue, and purple, besides for the rest of the red blood that coated her face. She knew that this was a symbol of what Raph would have looked like if she had succeeded in punching the shit out of him that night if she hadn't been stopped by the others.

"Stop it! I never meant for this! I never wanted this!" she wailed as she lost feeling in a majority of her body. "And yet you joined the Foot, joined them on missions, and then had the guts to defend and protect them rather than hiding yourself so that we couldn't find you! YOU'RE WEAK! YOU'RE AN IDIOT! AND WORST OF ALL, you let yourself get caught! You tried to kill me, so I'm going to make you see what happens when you attack someone with a temper they can't control."  
Sam braced herself as Raph flipped her over and was now positioning himself to slam the back of her head down onto the solid already bloodied concrete for the final time.

Sam jolted awake and was now sitting up in bed. Her breathing was ridiculously fast and she could feel the tears in her eyes and the vomit in her throat. She sprinted to the bathroom down the hall and threw up into the toilet a couple of times and then dry heaved for a couple of minutes before her body finally calmed down and allowed her to realize it was just another nightmare.

Since all her friends knew that Jay was going to be away for two weeks on his honeymoon, a bunch of Sam's female friends and their older sisters who were friends with Brenda and Jay had invited themselves to come over to the apartment earlier that night and hangout with Sam so that she wouldn't feel lonely (not realizing she had planned to spend the entire two weeks underground). This meant that she had returned home for the day and had spent the entire day in her house talking, dancing, playing games, and doing all other sorts of things with her friends. This had gone on all the way until 12:45a.m. to which the last females safely took an Uber home since multiple guests had to work the next day.  
Sam had decided to call it a night and after a quick shower she hopped into bed and decided she would join up with her friends later that day.  
She never expected that she would have yet another nightmare. She had been having nightmares ever since she lost her siblings, but they had decreased tremendously once she became friends with the turtles…but then they came back and were ten times worse after she had joined the Foot.

She had lost track of how any she had and how they involved everyone. One nightmare involved Raph and Mikey being killed at police headquarters after she had helped the two sneak in. Another nightmare involved the brothers getting hurt when they went to save Sam from Shredder after she joined the Foot and their rescue attempt had failed. One dream involved the older three blaming Sam because Mikey had taken his own life after not being able to handle Sam dying from saving him from being affected by the electronic whip that technically killed her the first time. She also had a dream where she messed up when she tricked Karai into thinking she would hurt the turtles when she froze the electric whip she had aimed at Mikey and in this case had hurt him so badly that he ended up with severe injuries afterwards. She had had a few dreams where she hurt Donnie as he helped her test her limits with her powers and she lost control. She had dreams where she hurt the brothers, and some involved the brothers hurting her. Some dreams involved one or more of the brothers harming her in order to avenge a brother that she had hurt or killed. Tonight she had had a dream about the time where she easily could have killed Raph if no one had come to intervene, and obviously this dream focused on her realizing what could have happened if she had actually killed Raph while also making her receive a taste of her own medicine from the wrath she threw at him that same night.

Once Sam's body had calmed down she quickly left the bathroom, grabbed her bag with her gear in it, and threw on a hoodie since she had been in her pajamas and hadn't been wearing a bra underneath. She then adjusted the locks and scanners in her room as he left through the balcony stairway outside her window and then entered the sewers through a manhole in the alley behind her apartment building. This was instantly what she did every time she had one of these nightmares. Whoever was most involved with her in the nightmare was always who she visited instantly. It was as if the only thing that made everything okay was actually seeing the person she thought she had harmed, or who she thought had harmed her, and confirming with them that everything had been a horrible dream and that in reality everyone was safe and okay. Of course, she always did this without telling a soul. There were multiple nights where Jay had contacted the guys in a panic because Sam wasn't home and he hadn't known that she had had a nightmare and had gone underground and visited whoever she had the nightmare about. She was also reprimanded by all her brothers since she would go visit that person involved in the nightmare regardless of whether or not it was a safe time to do so. Again, it was a little after 3.a.m. and Sam was now leaving her building and wandering the sewers alone, knowing the Foot and Purple Dragons still existed.

But this was what Sam did, every single time. She was silent (besides for her heavy breathing) as she walked at an incredibly fast pace down the sewer tunnels towards the lair. She had a tablet in her hands that she used to hack into Donnie's systems so that she could enter the lair without waking anyone.  
In record time she entered the lair and quickly turned a corner from the living room so that she was now heading towards Raph's bedroom. She had tossed her tablet onto the couch and was now booking it towards the bedroom. Usually if the door was locked she would just 'slump' her body so that it forcefully leaned on the door and made enough noise to awaken whichever brother was in the dream that time. If the door was unlocked then she would ever so slowly open it, and if the brother was sleeping then she would literally carefully climb into the bed with them and within seconds they would know what was going on.

Sam didn't have a chance for either of these things to happen since she saw that the door was open and that Raph was not in the room once she arrived. This made Sam worry that her dream was more than just a dream and that Raph was actually gone. What if everything else was a dream and she had actually killed Raph? She had no right to be here, but did the brothers even know? What if she had hurt him so much that there wasn't a body left, did they even know where Raph was? Had she hurt them? Oh god what if she didn't just unleash her wrath on Raph and she had harmed the other brothers?! What if-"

Suddenly muscular arms wrapped themselves around her. She hadn't realized her knees were buckling beneath her and that she was about to collapse into a ball on the floor until she felt the arms wrap themselves around her and help keep her standing on her feet.  
"It's okay, it's okay. He's in my room, that's where he crashed. I'll go get him, okay?"  
Sam recognized Mikey's voice and she recognized his touch as he was now gently rubbing his hands up and down her arms. The feeling made her feel more relaxed and allowed her to respond with a nod of her head.  
Mikey then gently scooped her up and carried her over towards his brother's bed where he sat her down. He kneeled down in front of the girl who had brought her knees up to her chest and had wrapped her arms tightly around her knees. He saw the redness in her eyes and could tell that this had been a really bad nightmare.  
"I'm gonna go get him, so don't leave okay? He's fine I promise. Breathe with me" he said as he put his hands on both of the girl's cheeks and took slow breaths and continued to do so until her breathing matched his.

Mikey then eased his way out of the room, never taking his eyes off of Sam until he literally couldn't see her anymore, and seconds later Raph had walked into the room.  
He quickly made his way over to the bed and threw his arms around the girl who was already beginning to cry again.  
"Whatever I did or whatever you did, we're both okay. We're healthy and we're safe, no one is hurt or in danger I promise" he reassured her as he kept his arms wrapped around her.  
He hated to hear her cry, and it broke him even more when he saw her cry, but he knew that when she was like this she needed someone to take care of her. Sam was one of the toughest people he had ever met, but there were still times where she was weak and needed others in order to get by. This was one of those times.

The two just sat there for a few minutes as the girl released her tears as she cried into his shoulder. Raph just sat there and did the regular things that got Sam to calm down: he ran his hand up and down her back, he ran his fingers through her hair. Sam had made it clear to all the brothers that she was a touchy feely person even if not necessarily in a romantic way.  
Once a few minutes had passed and Sam had calmed down Raph leaned back and looked her in the eye. This was usually the signal that he was ready to listen to whatever it was that had happened.  
Sam took a long breath, and struggled in doing so, before she finally spoke.  
"I had the dream where I almost killed you again" she whimpered.  
Raph sighed and ran his hand down his face.  
"Man, again? Was it the same as last time where you beat me to a pulp and then faced my brothers afterwards?" he asked in a guilty manner, hating himself for even leading Sam to have these past experiences that now lead her to having these nightmares.  
"No actually. This one was different" she said as she timidly looked up at him. "This time it was you who ridiculed me. Your face became more and more deformed as you verbally and then physically fought back."  
Raph looked as if he had seen a ghost. This was a new nightmare scenario indeed. Usually when Sam had this nightmare she had already killed Raph and she was either tortured with the realization of the monster she almost became, or she faced the emotional and physical fights from his brothers as they avenged their brother by attacking his killer, but this time it was him who had harmed Sam in the nightmare.  
"Did…did I do something that made the dream change?" he asked as he looked more to his left and down at the bed.  
Sam rapidly shook her head. "Of course not. I talked to a therapist about this once and he told me that sometimes when similar nightmares change it's because of alternate scenarios that could have happened. I guess this time my mind wondered how you would have reacted if I had paused. I guess my mind assumed you would have resumed to defending yourself and would have killed me since I had intended to kill you…wait, I mean!-"  
"I know what you meant Sam. The mutagen kicked in and made you go haywire after I set you off. You never meant to hurt me, you just lost control because of me."  
Sam could tell by the look in his eye that he regretted every scene that was replaying itself in his head. Man she wished she could take back everything that had happened that night not even a full year ago.

She gently held onto Raph's right arm. He looked up at her, the shame in his thoughts displayed on his face.  
"Hey, we both wish we could go back and fix what happened. But it's okay now. Just like you said, we're both healthy and we're both safe. Everything worked out and everything is back to normal again. Everything was out of context and we both made mistakes, but we've grown and learned from them. These nightmares aren't your fault" she said in a soothing tone.  
The girl's words were helpful, but there were still dark thoughts in the turtles mind.  
"Do you ever wonder what life would be like now? If one of those bad scenarios actually happened?" he asked shyly.  
Sam sighed and flopped back onto the bed. "All the time. I wonder what would have happened if I had actually killed you. I know I never would forgive myself. I know your brothers would shun me, and I wouldn't blame them-"  
"Stop" Raph said rather harshly, although he hadn't intended to sound that way.  
Sam paused and pursed her lips together and kept them shut.  
"Just…I wonder the same thing" Raph mumbled, continuing to look everywhere but at her, but that was before Sam shot up and made him look at her.  
"What are you talking about?" she asked.  
Raph sighed. "You could have died if something had gone wrong while you were with the Foot, and I'm the main reason we didn't help you. I pushed you over your limits because I had to be an ass about not fully trusting you and then what do we learn? You've been covering for us the whole damn time."  
Sam now realized that as Raph talked through gritted teeth he was also clenching his fists together. She looked up at him with gentle eyes only to see that he had reverted back to looking away from her. Sensing the tension in the air, Sam leaned over and rested her head on the turtles shoulder.  
"You can't keep thinking that way. I know I need to stop thinking this way as well. It's these thoughts that keep making us have these nightmares" she muttered.  
She felt an arm wrap around her.  
"I know, but I can't just ignore how I acted and I can't just ignore what could have happened if things didn't turn out as lucky for us as they did."  
"Well then don't forget what happened, but keep thinking about how to make up for it" Sam said as she sat back up and looked him in the eyes. "Next time I act all sketchy, now you know to trust me no matter what. And you also know that no matter what situation I'm in that I'll always have your back, same for the others."  
This finally got Raph to smile. "Yeah, and I know from now on that you'll never go behind our backs. Unless it's a prank war that is" he said with a smirk.  
Sam shrugged. "Everyone is each other's enemies when the prank wars begin my friend. No one can ever be trusted during those times." She was happy to see that Raph was feeling better as he chuckled from her comment. Sam rocked herself forward and then stood up in front of him. "So, you ready for the next part of getting past nightmares?" she asked as she held her hand in front of her for him to take.

When Sam went to talk to whichever brother was involved in the nightmare, a new tradition had come about within each pairing. She and Leo would always go meditate and would then discuss the nightmare while drinking tea in his room. Donnie, being the speed demon that he was, loved to run out his emotions with Sam before the two officially found a spot to cool down and talk things out. Mikey and Raph handled things the opposite way. Mikey needed to talk things out and then needed to complete a fun activity with his partner in crime afterwards to prove that everything was okay. Raph also needed to talk things out before he could do anything else, and afterwards, he needed to complete some type of physical activity. Usually the two would work out in the dojo, but sometimes they completed more leisurely activities as well. Tonight Raph was more interested in using the batting cages in the secret hangout that Mikey and Sam had prepared which was now a huge underground fun house.

Raph looked up at Sam before taking her hand.  
"Before we end this conversation, you know I would never hurt you, right? Putting the past in the past, nothing like that will ever happen again and I'll never treat you like I did. You know that, right?" he asked cautiously.  
Sam brought her hand back to her side. "I know that as long as you know I'll never do anything to betray you guys ever again, and I swear I'll never hurt any of you guys either. The past is the past, and nothing from the past will ever repeat itself."  
Raph nodded with a small smirk.  
"In that case, race you to the batting cages!" he announced as he quickly lunged forward, scooped Sam up, and tossed her onto his bed as he then ran out the door.  
"Mikey let's go!" Raph called, knowing that his youngest brother would still be awake, and this was proven correct as a hyper Michelangelo dashed through the hallways and was now silently tailing his brother.  
Sam sat up as quick as she could and tried to catch up to the others as fast as she could. The whole time she was laughing and having fun with her brothers she continued to remind herself that she would NEVER let the past repeat itself ever again. Her life was perfect and she would never allow anything to ever change that.

 **Alright, so just a heads up for future chapters, there are going to be some time skips that occur. Not like the characters will now jump to 5 years later or anything, but overall things might start skipping by so many months so that certain events I have planned for the future can occur. I'm actually reaching a good halfway point to many of the events I have planned so far for this series.**

 **Also a warning, I start my teaching internship for my Fall semester next Wednesday, so unfortunately it's back to when this series might go on momentary hiatus :/ I hate having to say that, but I know that once the semester starts I will be lucky if I produce one additional chapter throughout the rest of the season.**

 **But as always, I will share that this story is far from over and I still have a WHOLE lot more in store. So if you are willing to be patient then I promise that in due time this story will return :3**

 **Also! If you're interested in reading anything else I'm working on I currently have a mini series running on Tumblr known as "TMNT In The Oasis." I FINALLY saw Ready Player One and had these ideas and when I searched them online I didn't see many others posting about it, so I decided to do so. It's nowhere near as elaborate as this story is, but it's a fun little idea I had stuck in my head and so I decided to type it up on my Tumblr app during free time. Once I have more of it completed I might add it on this site as well :)**


	48. Chapter 48

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #48

 ***Sunday February 14** **th** **2016, Jay's new apartment***

Months had passed and so much had changed in such a short amount of time. Sam was now living with Kris as they shared her apartment together. She still lived in her room while Kris now took over Jay's old room. Because of this, the turtles had become a bit closer to Kris, although for his safety they still did not want him visiting the lair. They had all come to trust Kris and believed that he would be a good match for Sam and at this point were just waiting for the news that the two were officially dating.

They wondered if today would finally be the day since tonight there would be tons of moments of cuteness since Brenda and Jay were bringing home their baby and their adopted daughter. Only immediate family knew that Brenda was already pregnant by a couples of months during their wedding. Some would say the two were insane for having children so soon, but with the crazy life the two had lived already, they just wanted to continue moving forward before it was too late. Their dark pasts also made them realize that there were many children in this world who were raised in unfortunate circumstances and they wanted to help in their own way, which lead them to adopt around the same time that they were having their own child. Tonight was the night that not only were they giving birth to their son, but also the day they were earning the right to adopt their 4 year old daughter. It wasn't supposed to happen all on the same day, but somehow that's how it happened. Luckily the social worker met with Jay and Brenda at the hospital where Jay signed all the final papers and was now holding his daughter after standing by his wife who had given birth to their son.  
Irma was there and so was Kris. Sam on the other hand was still at her brother's apartment (which she was totally jealous of because it was so much more spacious than hers!) and was with the turtles as they finished helping baby proof the house.

"Are you sure we're allowed to be here? Is it safe to have babies be near us?" Raph asked cautiously.  
Sam rolled her eyes. "For the thousandth time Raph, yes! You guys have been washing up and disinfecting everything on all of you. Jay and Brenda want you guys to be a part of their kids' lives so they've taken every precaution to make sure that happens" she said as she was currently putting locks on cabinet doors throughout the living room.  
"Ohhhhhhh GUYS WE'RE GONNA SEE A BABY!" Mikey shouted, also for the thousandth time.  
"Gates are all set" Leo announced as he walked back into the room and away from the stairs that lead up to the next level of the apartment.  
"Thank you sir. And here's your reward" Sam teased as she tossed Leo a green tea flavored juice box, which he was more than happy to receive as thanks for his hard work.  
"How are the monitors coming along Donnie?" Sam shouted upstairs.  
"Almost done!" he called back.  
"I can't wait to see his chubby little cheeks! And oh my gosh do you think he will have hair?!" Mikey gushed as he then flopped back onto the couch.  
"Make sure you don't ask so many questions that Brenda loses her shit. Like let her be with her child before you go snatching him away" Sam teased as she walked over and sat next to her best friend.  
"Oh I'd never do that! It's important that the baby spends quality time bonding with its mother. I'll always respect that" he said with a confident smile.  
"Tch, since when do you know so much about babies?" Raph scoffed.  
"Since I've been researching about them ever since we were told Brenda was going to have one. At least I'm interested and care about meeting the little guy and the young lady that will be joining us soon" Mikey said matter-of-factly as he crossed his arms.  
"Of course I care to you dweeb" Raph huffed as he glared over at his brother.  
"Uh, no offense big guy but your body language definitely says otherwise" Sam said gently. "What's got you so worked up?"  
Raph eyed her carefully as if to test that she wasn't setting him up to mess with him.  
He looked away and pouted as he muttered "I just don't wanna break em."  
Sam let out a breath and smiled.  
"Raph you dork, you're not gonna break the kids."  
"What if I get nervous and drop em?" he asked louder and more intensely than he intended.  
"We'll be right beside you Raph, we'll make sure nothing happens to the kids" Mikey reassured in an uncharacteristically mature manner.  
"Will they scream?" Raph asked cautiously.  
Sam shrugged. "They might, this will all be knew for both kids in their own ways. One will be seeing mutants for the first time in her life, the other will barely be able to see anything because he'll still be getting used to opening his eyes at all. We can't predict how they'll react, but it also depends on how you react to them. You just have to be gentle. Besides, I think the little girl will love you guys. I haven't had a chance to meet her yet, but Jay says she's different in the most beautiful and special ways possible."  
"Guys, I saw them from the window upstairs. They're here!" Donnie called as he and Leo were now making their way into the living room.  
Sam could sense how truly tense Raph was now as he continued to clench and unclench his hands. She gently lay her hand along his arm.  
"Hey, everything is going to be okay. You're gonna be a great uncle and they're both gonna love you" she reassured.  
Raph nodded and then looked over to see how his other brothers were handling the situation. He was shocked beyond belief at how calm and collected Leo and Donnie were as they both sat their patiently with smiles on their faces.  
"How are you both so calm?!" Raph blurted out.  
They both turned towards their brother and for the first time realized how stressed he was.  
"Raph, you okay?" Donnie asked as he walked over and sat in the open space at his brothers left on the couch (Sam was sitting towards Raph's right side).  
"I'm just afraid I'll hurt them somehow. What if they're scared of me? What if I yell and I scare them?" he began to say, his voice sounding more and more panicked as more words began spilling out.

Before anyone could even say anything else to calm him down, the door opened.  
Everyone froze and sat completely still on the couch as Jay slowly and carefully entered the room. Eyes went wide as they saw the carrier in his left hand and the little black bushy bundle at the top of it.  
"*Gasp* he does have hair" Mikey somehow squealed into a whisper.  
Behind Jay was Kris who was wheeling his older sister into the room in a wheelchair. Behind them was Irma who was holding hands with her new granddaughter who walked in calmly with a blank expression, that is, until she saw the four giant mutants sitting on the couch and her mouth gapped open.  
Kris wheeled Brenda all the over to the couch so that each brother could stand up and gently give her a hug.  
"Everything went well?" Leo asked with a smile.  
Brenda groggily nodded her head. "They said I was a text book pregnancy. Everything went perfect. I'm just super tired" she stated as Jay was now massaging her shoulders.  
Mikey was the next to speak.  
"Okay I promise I won't take the baby away, but pleaseeeeeeeeee can I see more of him?" he whined.  
The new parents laughed as Jay took the carrier (which had been held by Kris while Jay was pampering his exhausted wife) and now moved it closer towards where the boys and Sam were sitting on the couch.  
Donnie was seated on the far right, then Raph, Sam, Mikey, and Leo on the far left. Everyone in the group was now leaning forward and gawking at the most adorable thing they had ever seen.  
"Family, say hi to Keno. Keno, say hi to the family" Jay said with a beaming smile.

The baby had dark brown eyes and a rather large amount of black hair for a newborn. His hair was thin and a bit puffed out at the moment which only intensified how adorable he already was. He then yawned and exposed his toothless gums. The group then looked over every inch of that baby just for the simple fact that every single detail about him was just so freaking tiny!  
Jay turned to get reassurance from his wife and then looked at the youngest of the brothers.  
"Mikey, would you like to hold him?" Jay asked.  
Mikey's head shot right up as he stared at Jay.  
"You really mean it?"  
"Of course" Jay said with a smile.  
Mikey responded by extending his arms in front of his body as a signal that he was already prepared to hold the baby. "I've already sanitized and everything" he reassured.  
Jay then carefully unhooked the straps from the carrier and picked up the almost weightless being. He taught Mikey how to cradle the baby while making sure his head was supported in the bent part of his arm.  
Mikey caught on quick and as he held that little bundle of joy, it looked as if he had been a parenting pro for years.  
"Wow, you're a natural" Brenda teased.  
Mikey looked up at her and smiled as he continued to cradle the baby in his arms. "I've always loved kids. It amazes me that there's people in this world that hate them. I mean how can you hate someone who is so darn cute!" he said as he now held Keno so that his and the babies noses were touching.  
"Do we get a turn?" Leo asked.  
"Awwww already?" Mikey whined, to which Sam gently nudged him.  
"Share the child! Don't worry, he's going to be here for a long time. You'll have plenty of times to hold him. I'll even let you change his diaper" Sam teased, not expecting Mikey to actually feel excited to complete such an 'honoring' task.

Jay was now gently picking up his son and was now coaching the leader in blue on how to correctly hold the baby.  
While Leo was learning how to handle the infant, Irma was now walking the second newest child to the family up to the turtles.  
"Guys, this is Renet. She's four years old, she loves animals, she loves to dance, and she has an awesome 'friend' (she said while using her fingers as quotes where the child couldn't see) named Rachel.  
This left the group a bit more stunned. Keno was literally seeing images and colors for the first time and would grow up being taught to keep the guys secret and would grow up learning to accept the green beings for who they were, but Renet was already 4 years old. She was old enough to judge and she was still a bit young to understand the concept of keeping secrets and she was way too young to understand the dangers and consequences of her telling others about the turtle's existence.

The young girl stood there and looked at them, un-phased and calm. She was so nonchalant as if she had seen all the turtles before.  
Of course, Mikey was the first one to speak to her.  
"Well hi! My name is Michelangelo, but you're a lady so you can call me Mikey" he said with a beaming smile.  
To his amusement, this got the girl to smile.  
"My name is Leo, nice to meet you" Leo stated formally (as always).  
"My name is Donnie" the nerdy turtle said with a small wave and a nervous smile on his face.  
Raph just stared at the child with wide eyes, too nervous to speak. His breathing, while silent, had definitely become more rapid as his chest moved in and out in large movements.  
The young girl's smile had faded.  
"You don't like me" she stated bluntly.  
Instantly his eyes grew wide.  
"What?" he asked.  
"The others were smiling, but you're not. So you must not like me."  
Raph rapidly shook his head.  
"No. No-no. That's not it. I uh, I just don't wanna scare you" he said nervously.  
Everyone in the room was now looking towards Raph with sympathetic looks as they now saw how worried the tough turtle truly was that his appearance would scare away the young girl, and it was evident how hurt he would be if he did indeed scare this child.  
Renet however just titled her head in curiosity.  
"Why would I be scared of you?" she asked. She then walked up to Raph and pointed to the cut on his lip. "Is it because of this? You get into a lot of fights, don't you?" she asked in a very straightforward manner.  
Mikey and Sam began to snicker. "I like her" Sam stated.  
The child then looked at her (meanwhile Keno was now being brought over towards Donnie to hold). "Who are you?" Renet asked as she looked at Sam.  
"I'm Sam, I'm your aunt. I'm Jay's younger sister" she said with a heartwarming smile.  
Renet looked confused as she looked at Sam's hands and then looked down at her own, wondering how her new father could be related to this woman when they were not even the same color.  
"Oh no I'm not the same race as you and your parents. Jay was my adopted brother, and then I technically became his adopted sister. Don't worry, in time you will learn allllllll about everyone in this crazy families past, especially because you're a major part of this families future."  
This once again brought back a huge smile to the young child's face.  
"So this is my family? All these people?" she asked as she looked around the room at the turtles, her aunt, her parents, her Grammy Irma, and her uncle Kris.

"Sorry we're late" April stated as she and Casey were now entering the room.  
"Now everyone in your family is here. Oh! Except for Sensei, but you'll meet him eventually" Jay stated. "But yes, this is your new family" he said as she placed a hand on the girls back.  
Renet then looked up at him.  
"Forever?" she asked timidly.  
The look in the girl's eyes literally broke the soul of everyone in that room. She was so innocent, but the fact that she needed to ask that proved how scared she truly was. Each of them wondered what she had experienced so far in her short life that already scared her so much and made her fear that she would not actually get to live with this group for the rest of her life.  
Jay then wrapped his arms around the young girl and gave her a big hug.  
"Forever and always. You are my daughter, and nothing will ever change that." He then backed away and nodded his head towards everyone else in the room.  
"And that goes for all of these people as well. Every single one of them will love you for the rest of your life."  
Renet looked around the room and what convinced her the most that this was true was that she saw everyone in that room smiling down at her, even Raphael.

 ***Later that night around 8p.m. Still at Jay's apartment***

"Goodnight Renet" all four of the brothers said at the same time. April and Casey also came in and said goodnight, then grammy Irma and uncle Kris, then aunt Sam and Mikey who just needed to see that little sweetheart once more before he left, and then finally mom and dad.  
"So, what do you think of your family so far?" Brenda asked.  
"They're awesome! This is the coolest family ever!" Renet exclaimed as she threw her hands up in joy.  
"Now remember," Jay began as he rubbed his hand along the girl's leg over top her blanket, "you cannot tell ANYONE about your turtle uncles. I can't explain yet because you're still very young, but they could get hurt if you tell anyone about them. Got it?"  
"Got it" Renet said with huge nods of her head.  
"Alright sweetie, goodnight" Jay said as he leaned forward and kissed the girl on her forehead.  
"We love you so much" Brenda said as he leaned forward and did the same thing.  
The two then left the room and turned out the light, leaving their daughter alone to fall asleep in her new bedroom.

About 5 minutes later, a small light came on and a woman appeared.  
She stood dressed in black, like a ninja, and she had long black hair that had been put up into a bun.  
"Hey" she said with a huge smile, "how did your first day with the new family go?" the woman asked in a whisper.  
"Rachel" Renet said, making sure to whisper as well, "today was awesome. I love all of them already. Are you sure they're never gonna leave me? What if I make them mad, especially the red one" Renet asked rather timidly.  
Rachel shook her head. "Sweetie, look at me" she said as she brought Renet's face up so that the two female's eyes were connected. "Everyone you met today, and I mean EVERYONE you met today, is going to love you to pieces for the rest of your life. Every single one of them" she stated reassuringly.  
Renet still seemed unsure. "But, what if I make them mad or something? Will they still want me then?" she asked.  
"Yes, and do you want to know why?" the older woman asked with a smile.  
Renet nodded her head.  
"Even when you make them mad they will still want you because that's what real families do. Whether they are happy, sad, mad, hungry, whatever they feel, a true family sticks together and finds ways to work things out no matter what. And soon enough you will see how strong this family is. I promised you that you would be placed in the perfect home and I still believe that this is the most perfect family for you." The woman held her hand on the girls shoulder and gently rubbed this spot. "Trust me, you're going to love it here. You're going to love this family as much as they already love you."

Renet sighed, but continued to smile.  
"I can't wait to see what my new life is going to be like" she said, gently kicking her legs underneath the blankets. "Oh" Renet said as she now looked back up at the woman curiously.  
"I saw Aunt Sam and Uncle Kris today and I already love both of them. Grammy Irma is super sweet, and even Ms. April and Mr. Casey are nice and fun to. The only person I didn't meet that you told me about is Sensei Splinter, but dad says that once they find a perfect time for him to come up to the surface then I will finally meet him. I noticed a lot of the things that you told me about, like how weird Aunt Sam is with her turtle brothers, how dad is so sweet to mom, how Grammy Irma treats Ms. April as if she was her own daughter."  
"Did you notice what I told you about the turtles as well?" the woman asked with a huge smile on her face.  
Renet displayed a beaming smile as she nodded her head forward.  
"I did. Leo was super serious so I didn't see his silly side yet. Donnie was nervous so I didn't see his sillies either. Mikey was nothing but silly" the girl said with a giggle, "but Raph was weird. You said he would be nice, but he looked kinda scary" the girl said as she brought her blanket up towards her face.  
The woman shook her head. "He looks that way sometimes, but I swear on my life that he is a big softie. You'll learn in time that he's very protective and sweet and caring and that he can get very upset and emotional very easily. I can't tell you when you will see these sides of him, but I promise you will see these sides of him" she stated reassuringly.  
Renet nodded. "Oh, I saw the guy you said would be Aunt Sam's husband…but they don't look like they like each other at all" Renet stated. "Are you sure that's the guy she's gonna marry? Maybe you got the names mixed up when you told me. I mean they obviously care about each other like brother and sister like you said, but she acted the same way she did with all the other turtles as well."  
The older woman shook her head. "Nope, I swear on my life again that he's the one. It may not seem like it for a while, but eventually in due time, he will be the one" she said while slowly nodding her head.  
The young girl shrugged. "Mkay, if you say so. I guess that means you still can't tell me about who all the other brothers are going to marry either?" the girl pouted.  
The woman roughed Renet's hair with a sigh. "Sorry kiddo, I can only tell you so much at a time. If I tell you too much then it could alter the future, and trust me, you do not want that to happen."  
"Will I still get to see you now that I have a new family?" she asked, a saddened expression on her face.  
The older woman lightly chuckled. "Well of course sweetie. It's going to be a bit more difficult for us to meet each other, but you will definitely see much more of me for a long while. Don't worry, I won't leave you alone either" the woman said as she put her hand out for a pinky promise.  
Renet happily completed the hand gesture, and the two parted ways so that Renet could peacefully drift off to sleep.

 ***8:05 in the nursery at Jay's new apartment***

"Awww can't I say goodnight to him one more time?" Mikey whined.  
"Come on big guy, leave the baby alone so he can spend some time with his dad" Sam teased as she lightly pulled back on her best friends arm.  
"Oh! That's true. *Sigh* okay. Goodnight Keno, I miss you already" Mikey said softly as he was playfully pulled downstairs and away from the nursery.  
Raph, the last person who was still upstairs with Jay, shook his head as he watched his youngest brother get dragged down the stairs.  
"If he ever makes your life more stressful then let me know and I'll teach him to behave" Raph stressed to the new father, "especially now that you have two kids to take care of, and from what my dad has told me, that ain't easy."  
Jay chuckled. "Thanks, but don't worry. Brenda and I are both brand new to this so we'll need all the help we can get. And it's clear Mikey will be more than eager in wanting to help us take care of them. And it's clear that Renet has already taken a liking to him, towards all of you actually" he said as he gently rocked his sleeping son in his arms.  
Raph pursed his lips and rubbed his hand behind his head. "I don't know, I feel like she didn't like me all that much. She does like the others though" Raph stated timidly.  
Jay instantly began shaking his head,  
"Nope, it was clear she became attached towards all of you, that's why she kept staring back at you. She wants you to like her and I'd bet money that she hopes she'll be able to make you like her. We're still learning about her past, but apparently she's been lonely and never had a real family, so the social worker said she's going to 'work hard to make us like her.' But that just means that even when we're mad or sad, we need to make it clear how much we care about her. That's all you need to do and she will be as attached to you as she is to everyone else. Just get to know her Raph, and she will cling to you more and more" Jay reassured with a huge smile.

Raph smiled in return. "I hope so. She does seem like a great kid. She's different though. I can't explain it, but she is. She's still silly and energetic like a 4 year old, but she can also be…very calm and realistic. Like there were times where she was having more adult conversations, you know?"  
Jay nodded as he now began to walk into the nursery and lay his son down in his crib.  
"Yeah, but we knew that she was different going into the adoption, and that's one of the main reasons we chose to adopt her. We felt like her already being a unique kid meant that she would fit in perfectly with a family like…ours…"  
Jay's voice trailed off as he turned around and realized that Raph had stopped following him at the doorway to the nursery. He watched as Raph just looked around the room with a mix of curiosity and sadness.  
"Raph?" he asked, "You okay?"  
Raph now stopped and stared at Jay, realizing he had been caught in a daze that he himself had not realized he was in.  
"Uh, yeah. I'm all good" he attempted to play off, but Jay knew better, and Raph could tell this by his face.  
"I will literally trap you in here if you don't spill what is on your mind" the man said with his arms crossed.  
Raph sighed in defeat. "Fine" he huffed, "but you can't judge me, and you have to promise that it won't change anything about how you view me. Okay?"  
Jay displayed a much more serious expression. "I understand."  
Raph sighed once more. "It's just…I don't know. I guess I'm a bit jealous that you get all this" he said as he waved his hand to point to the room as a whole.  
"What do you mean?" Jay questioned.  
"That you get to have kids, both literally having your own kid and even adopting someone who needs a home. None of us talk about it, but we would give anything to be able to do all that one day. Before we met April and Sam, the thought of even seeing a baby up close in person was something we would laugh at because we knew it would never happen, so I guess standing here with a baby in front of me…it's a lot to take in" he stated.  
Jay displayed a look of guilt. "We wanted you guys to meet the kids because we wanted you in their lives, since your mine and Sam's family, so of course that means you guys will be part of theirs as well. And we thought you guys would be happy to meet them…but we never considered that. Raph I'm-"  
"Don't even say it" Raph somehow said strictly while still whispering. "Do not apologize for bringing us the joy of getting to grow up around kids. Yes I personally have some issues I have to deal with, but I'd rather get to grow up with these kids and watch them grow up themselves rather than never get to be around kids at all. And if you tell anyone I told you any of this mushy stuff then Jay I swear to god-"  
"I know, I know tough guy" Jay said as we waved Raph away, "I would never tell anyone. I'm your brother to now, remember? I've got your back. And I appreciate you being honest with me" he said. "If there's ever anything that makes you uncomfortable or hurt or whatever in regards to the kids, please let me know. I want them to bring you nothing but happiness, but if you feel anything but that then I want to help you out, okay?"  
Raph nodded. "Okay. Thanks for looking out bro" he said as he lightly nudged the man's shoulder.  
"Alright, now let's quietly head downstairs. I don't want to wake him so soon, especially since he'll have to wake up in just a few more hours for his next bottle."  
The two then began to slowly exit the room as Jay shut the door slowly and silently behind them.  
"Wait, so you have to feed him in the middle of the night?" Raph asked.  
"Oh yeah, they need to be fed based on a certain schedule, not based on day and night meals. Hehe, welcome to parenthood my friend. You have a lot to learn."

 **I DID IT AGAIN! Which turtle do you think it will be now? Are your guesses still the same? Have they changed? Apparently little Renet knows something that the rest of you don't.  
Hope you're enjoying the story! There are some events coming up that are going to start making it more and more clear who Sam will end up with, but there is also some more fun and adorable family moments coming up as well. I can't wait until I can finally share them all with you readers :D **


	49. Chapter 49

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #49

 ***Sunday March 13, 2016. At the lair ***

"Alright do we have everything?!" Sam called out as she cupped her hands around her mouth.  
Donnie and Leo pushed one final time and slammed down the trunk to the turtle van they had recently acquired, finally getting the trunk to stay shut after packing up everyone's luggage inside.  
"We better" Donnie huffed.  
Jay walked up carrying Renet. "Our car is all packed. We're waiting outside. Is Renet's seat ready?"  
He then turned in time to see Mikey open the door to the turtle truck and hop out with a huge smile on his face.  
"The ladies car seat is all ready to go" he said as he bowed in front of the child being carried by her father.  
Jay could tell that Mikey had been waiting to hold the child, so he carefully handed her off to him (Renet of course had her arms wide open and was waiting for the large turtle to take her away already).  
"That's precious cargo you're strapping into that seat! You better take good care of her!" Jay called out, sternly pointing his finger at the turtle who was giggling at the threats being shouted at him.  
"Oh come on Jay, you know how much I love this little nugget, you really think I would allow anything to happen to her little 4 year old self?" Mikey stated as he snuggled his chin against the top of Renet's head.  
She then did her little wriggle that meant that she wanted to be placed on the ground. Mikey obliged to the girls request and carefully placed her so that she was standing on the floor of the truck. Renet then hopped down with a smile and ran over and hugged her father one final time. She then looked up at him with her big brown eyes.  
"Don't worry daddy, Uncle Mikey will take care of me. Plus he'll have the others to help him! Remember?" she said as she pointed to the crowd of people getting ready to board the truck.

Jay sighed as he bent down and gave his daughter a long and tight hug.  
"I wish I had your optimism" he said as she stood back up  
"Wait, wait! I need one to!" Brenda exclaimed as Irma quickly took Keeno so that Brenda could run over and give her daughter a big hug. Renet extended her arms as her mother scooped her up, spun her around once, and planted a huge kiss to her cheek.  
"If you need ANYTHING then tell one of your aunts or uncles to call us, okay?"  
Renet looked up at her mother as she was now being placed back on the ground.  
"Moooooom, I just gave this speech to dad!"  
"Oh I know," the woman said as she ruffled her daughter's hair, "but your safety will always be on my mind for the rest of forever. It's not my fault, I can't stop worrying even if I wanted to."  
"Exactly!" Jay added, "That's why we're bringing this one in our car with us!" he said as he was now pointing fiercely at Leo.  
Brenda raised a brow as she now held her son once again and was now placing him in his carrier.  
"Really? That's what you're going with as your reason for bringing your turtle clone in the car with us?" she teased.  
"Hey, Kris likes him to!"  
"Well I guess the rest of us are chopped liver then" Raph teased as he nudged the man's shoulder as he walked past him towards the vehicle he would be traveling in.  
"Oh I would have loved for you to ride with us, but Casey made it known how much he wanted you with him" Jay said as she slammed his hands down on Casey's shoulders.  
Casey looked up with a 'wtf' face as he threw his arms out in front of him.  
"Okay, we all have bromance here, why are we trying to make it weird?"  
"Maybe because the guys chose each other before choosing women" April said as she crossed her arms in front of her.  
"No, no-no! You chose HIM-" Casey stated as he pointed towards Donnie, "over me. You knew I was chosen to drive the truck for the first shift and you chose to go in the SUV."  
"Hey! What's wrong with the SUV?!" Jay exclaimed.  
"I'm not in it!" Casey shouted back.  
"Well Irma and Vern said they both fall asleep quickly on long car rides and neither of them have driven down to Jersey anyway. I wasn't going to leave Donnie all by himself. Family has to have each other's backs."  
"Awwww thanks April" Donnie said as he walked past her towards the SUV, the third vehicle parked in the work space where the turtle truck and van were currently being held.  
"Does everyone have everything?!" Sam shouted as she threw her final bag in the back of the SUV.  
Everyone in the group looked around at each other and nodded. Each person loaded them self into their seat (making sure the two children were safely secure before doing anything else) and everyone was off.

Cousins on their father's side, Jack and Jayden Kurtzman, and then Jack's cousin on his mother's side, Ashton Amante, were all detectives of some kind. The three grew up as if they were brothers by blood rather than just friendly cousins, and each had supported each other all their lives. They also had family that had been affected by the Foot. So when Jack's sister Ashley Kurtzman (also Jayden's youngest cousin) and Ashton's sister Jillian Amante were rescued by the turtles in September of 2014 the group of three wanted to thank the group in any way they could.  
It was difficult for them to do so since Leo refused Sam from letting them contact anyone outside of their human family for the longest time, but now that he was slowly giving humanity more of a chance, he decided to hear them out on their offer.  
The three men owned a rather large property near Wildwood New Jersey. The property was located in Lower Township New Jersey where it wasn't too close to the coast guard and also wasn't too far away from Ocean Drive which would lead them into town to buy any needed supplies, but it was also just far enough away where the turtles could run out into the ocean without being seen by anyone.  
The Kurtzman and Amante men offered to let the turtles and any additional loved ones stay on the property for any week of their choosing since the property was used as a vacation home for destressing and escaping from their busy lives, and finally the turtles were taking advantage of this gracious offer.

There would be nobody entering the massive household except for the turtles and their group for the entire week that they chose (and of course they chose the week that Sam and Kris were both on spring break from their universities).  
Those that were heading down were the four brothers, their father, Sam, Jay, Brenda, Renet, Keeno, Kris, Irma, April, Casey, and Vern (they weren't exactly thrilled to bring him, but they would be liars to say he didn't help them when they needed it, and a little bird also told them that Irma for whatever reason had always had a slight crush on Vern, and he was also April's friend and co-worker for years now).  
The group also wasn't sure about bringing Kris or Irma, but after discussing it they had realized that the brothers and Sensei had seen ten times more of these two humans now that Jay and Brenda were married and had their children, so Irma and Kris were now officially part of the human family.

The driving situation had been difficult to figure out at first since there were 15 people going total.  
Casey had offered to be a main driver and had been elected to drive the turtle truck with Raph nearby. Raph and Mikey had finally proven they could drive the vehicle and were placed with Casey in case he needed a break from driving. Sam and Splinter had also joined this group because even with the luggage there was more room to move in the truck than in any other vehicle. This also allowed more room for a car seat which meant that Renet had more room to feel comfortable as well.

Leo (who also had been given permission by Donnie to have a license, though this was much sooner than Raph and Mikey) was the driver of the turtle van, a vehicle that Jay and Casey had purchased rather cheap and Donnie decked it out to look like a brand new car. This vehicle was used more for convenience and for stealth and secrecy, whereas the truck was used for actual battle (but of course, Donnie had altered the look so that it would seem like a regular truck for this particular trip). Kris was the passenger in this vehicle, along with the new parents and their close to two month old baby strapped in-between them as they all sat in the second row of the van.

Then, in Jay and Brenda's new SUV, Donnie was the first driver (which he felt more comfortable sitting in this car than he thought he would). He had April as his passenger with Irma and Vern sitting behind them. Everyone was now ready and situated for the almost 3 hour long drive, and everyone was excited to go on vacation. The humans were all excited for an opportunity to escape from their busy lives. The mutants, however, were excited to see a part of the world that they never thought they would get to experience (outside of missions where they could risk their lives, like in Brazil, of course).

They weren't sure if it would be safe to leave the city, but with Shredder and Kraang gone, and with Bebop and Rocksteady currently locked away, and with not a hint of Karai or Hun's presence, the group decided it would be okay to leave the city for a week and to experience their first full family vacation.

It was about 6 in the morning (somehow everyone's adrenaline, or caffeine, had helped them stay awake until now) so that the group could beat the morning traffic as best as possible. Plus, the earlier they left, the quicker they could reach their destination and enjoy the beach scenery and vacation life for their weeklong vacation. The trip was a little under 3 hours long, and that would only be if the traffic didn't hold them up for too long on the way down there, so they wanted to reach their destination as soon as possible.

Of course, this meant that the first round of drivers were only able to hold on for so long. For multiple members in the group, this was there first time ever driving for such a long period of time, so they grew tired out from the long drive very quickly. Casey felt fine, but Donnie was growing tired in the SUV, so the two switched vehicles and Casey drove the SUV. Donnie then switched over to the Turtle Truck where Raph was thrilled to take over as driver. As the two made the switch, Casey made sure to inform the young parents that their child was sound asleep as she leaned against Splinter who was sitting protectively with his arm wrapped around the small child. When Donnie got to the truck, he smiled as he observed not only the sight of the young child resting against his father, but also of Sam and Mikey asleep and leaning against each other as well.  
In the Turtle Van, Jay had taken over as driver and Leo had moved to the middle seat, which he was fine with because it gave him extra time to play with the infant who was surprisingly still awake (and smiling the entire time as well).

By pit stop number 2, the drivers all switched once again. Casey had grown tired from driving two rounds, so Mikey traded spots with him as he now drove the SUV. Raph needed a break as well, so Donnie returned to driving as he now drove the truck. In the van, Jay now needed a break, so Kris took over and drove the rest of the way in their vehicle.

Only one more pit stop was made after that. The group was all growing very tired so they carefully decided who was going to drive the rest of the way down. Donnie had now reached his driving limit after driving two separate rounds on the way down, so he was officially out cold. Raph would have taken over, but he was very tired out as well, plus he had a sleeping Renet at his side, so no one wanted to risk waking him and then also waking her. Because of this, Sam decided to drive the truck, while Mikey sat beside her as her passenger.  
Brenda decided to take over driving the rest of the way in the van. She smiled as she watched Leo, Jay, and baby Keeno all sleeping in the back seat. She also smiled as she sensed her brother, who was trying to stay awake, but had also succumbed to sleep after the long drive.  
Casey had returned to the SUV where he sat next to April who was now driving the rest of the way back. Casey also fought to stay awake, but eventually fell asleep, but April had rested a good majority of the way down, so she was okay to drive. She smiled at the man next to her who had attempted to be a gentleman and converse the whole way down to help keep her awake and safe, especially since Irma and Vern were also sound asleep in the back. She was grateful and found his attempt at staying awake quite charming.

This was also the reason that Mikey was fighting to stay awake as he sat next to Sam in the passenger seat of the truck.  
Sam smiled. "You're allowed to fall asleep, you know that right?" she asked.  
Mikey slightly shook his head.  
"I have to stay awake and talk, that way you stay awake. I don't want you to get hurt" he said, very, very drowsily.  
"But everyone else is asleep, you deserve to sleep to."  
"Your safety is more important" he said, not realizing his eyes were beginning to close.  
Sam just shook her head and sighed.  
"I appreciate your help, but I'm fine. I waited until the end so that I wouldn't have to drive on the highway. This is my driving comfort zone, so it's okay for you to sleep."  
"Never" he said, now realizing his eyes were closing as he opened them very wide.  
Sam couldn't help but laugh.  
"Are we there yet" a young voice asked from the back.  
"Renet? When did you wake up?" Mikey asked with a smile.  
She shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno, most of the tech is turned off since we're not in battle, so there's no clock"  
"Well let's change that then" Sam said as she pressed a button that turned on a few of the screens. Instead of using windows, passengers could look at the screens where mini cameras were recording and then displaying images from the outside.

Renet's eyes went wide as she looked out and saw no buildings, no cars, nothing but ocean and sand (along with some bayside grassy scenes, but still, it was nothing like the city).  
Sam then laughed to herself as Michelangelo, who was now wide awake and was able to acknowledge his surroundings, looked the exact same way and made the same surprised face as the young child sitting behind them.

It only took about 15 more minutes for them to reach their destination. Sam and Mikey stared wide eyed as they looked out at the view in front of them. The parking lot was off to the side of the gigantic household, which wasn't even in the two teens minds as they stared out at the beautiful scene in front of them. Much further down was a dock with all types of boats and water vehicles, but in front of them was a wooden planked pathway that lead down to an incredibly blue water scene that was located beyond a decent amount of sandy beach.  
It was now 10a.m. and the sun was shining brightly, illuminating a sparkling glow on top of the water, and it made the sand look warm and refreshing. The waves gently rippled due to a perfectly light breeze that blew along the beach. The best part was that there was no one in sight. No one around to spot the turtles or their father. No one was around to ruin this get away trip, so the mutant family could actually relax without having to watch their backs every second of the day in worry that someone against them would discover their location.

"Whoaaaaa, it's beautiful!" Renet said as she now was leaning over Mikey's shoulder (unfortunately Renet was too clever for her own good and had already learned how to unbuckle her car seat without assistance, but the teens decided to let it go this time since the car was parked and they were on vacation. They wouldn't want to stay buckled in much longer either).  
"Mmm" Raph groaned as he began to sit up and stretch. He then looked forward and saw the same scene and shoved his younger brother awake. It wasn't exactly the awakening Donnie was hoping for, but the view in front of him through the front window made this shove okay.

At this point everyone in the vehicle (except for Splinter who was still asleep) was staring out the front window in awe.  
"Kay, bye!" Sam shouted as she opened her door and began running towards the beach down ahead.  
She turned to see the van pull up, and before anyone could say anything Leo and Kris had already opened their doors and were rushing to meet up with Sam. Seconds later the other three brothers (Raph with Renet in his arms) were running behind these two as they all ran down towards the water in excitement.  
Sam was in the lead and was running towards the water and was so excited to return to the ocean water after not having been on a vacation in so long that she ran straight in up to her mid thighs. It wasn't until she had reached this point that she turned around and realized they brothers had all stopped back where the water just gently kissed the sand. The boys stood there with smirks on their faces, meanwhile, Renet was laughing her head off.  
"They got you Aunt Sam!" she shouted out.  
Sam crossed her arms. "Cover Renet" she said as her eyes went blue and she swung her arms in front of her so that a hue gust of wind shoved two hugs waves of water up and over the guys. Raph made sure to turn as soon as he heard Renet's named being mentioned and was able to keep the girl dry, but of course he and the others were still soaked.  
"Ha! Aunt Sam got all of you!" Renet now exclaimed.

"Are you all going to help unpack or what?!" Jay called down.  
The group turned around to see that everyone else was now awake and unloading the vehicles.  
"Heh, guess we should help with that" Leo said.  
The group jogged back, the sun helping dry them off rather quickly, and everyone grabbed a bag as they all made their way into the huge 5 story house.  
Of course, the teens (carrying Renet the entire time) literally brought in a load of bags, although each did help carry in multiple loads within one actual load of unpacking, and carefully dropped the bags in the main lobby as they then ran throughout the entire building, observing everything it had to offer.

The first thing the teens noticed was the large indoor pool and sauna when they went up to the first floor. T On this same floor, to Donnie's liking, was a computer room that was a designated work space. On the second floor was a huge gym that included some small sports rooms, including a small turf field. On the other side of this was a rock wall that stretched across the entire wall, and almost all the flooring in that room was made of either trampolines or foam pits. The third floor consisted of a large movie theater in one space, a large dance hall in the next, and a large game room in the third main space of that floor (the game room looking like a Dave and Buster's had moved into that room). The remaining space, aka the fourth and fifth floors, were all extremely spacious rooms that included 2 beds per room, a mini living room with a couch, love seat, additional comfy chairs, and even a mini kitchen space. Each room even had a hot tub. And the bathrooms were even more luxurious than the rest of the room altogether.  
Each bathroom had two square granite sinks and very shiny appliances. The turtles never realized they could love a shower as much as they were right now as all four of them literally crammed into one shower together.

"Dude! There's a tub and a shower within the doors of the shower! Like we can actually move!" Mikey shouted as he and his brothers were happily crowding into the room.  
The shower stretched into a large square and one on side of the square was a nice rounded bathtub, but there was still plenty of space (including a bench) so that the shower could be used as an actual shower, or even just as a steam room.  
"Having fun?" Sam asked as she watched the smiling brothers (and their smiling human 5th brother) as they all smiled and laughed as they crammed into the shower, amazed that it could fit all of them, even if certain brothers were basically hopping onto the others shoulders so that they could fit perfectly.

Casey then walked in, now that everyone else had caught up, and stared wide eyed at the shower.  
"Dude this thing is huge!" he shouted as he then piled in with the rest of the guys.  
Jay and Brenda, and basically everyone else was in the same room now.  
Brenda looked at Jay and even though she knew her husband wouldn't say anything, she could tell her wanted to join them.  
"Get in there" Brenda encouraged as she cradled Keno.  
Jay couldn't help but smile as he kissed his wife. "You are literally the greatest thing ever!" he shouted as he ran in and jumped on Raph's shoulders so that he could fit in the space.  
Vern looked as if he wanted to join as well.  
"Get in here old dude! There's still space!" Mikey shouted.  
Vern then rushed over once he saw the others turtles nod and encourage him to join as well.

The women, and Splinter who couldn't keep himself from laughing at his dorky sons, all smiled and shook their heads.

It was going to be a very interesting trip indeed.

 **HI GUYS! I have a million things to do, but instead I'm writing this!  
I've been craving writing lately even though I shouldn't be, but man I've missed this so much! Sorry this chapter is ridiculously short but I wanted to add and at least give an idea as to where the story is heading FOR NOW soooooooooo badly!**

 **Like this literally just felt so nice to focus on this and work on a computer and not hate my life…okay that was overdramatic, but it just sucks. College literally has you reading textbooks, then typing papers, then reading and typing some more, then reading and typing for a group. My internship is going well, but third grade content obviously takes more time to plan and grade than kindergarten (btw I'm interning in a 3** **rd** **grade class whereas in the past I had only ever interned in either K or Pre-k classes). There have been some breakdowns in my house. Breakdowns as in me crying my eyes out from stress, but I feel like that's something all college students do, so that's normal. I'm almost done this semester, but not just yet.**

 **BUT HOLY SHIT ONCE I'M DONE I HAVE SO MUCH IN STORE FOR THIS SERIES! And I keep coming up with ideas to add and I'm just so excited like I feel like I'm going to mess with so many people in a fun way, like you're not expecting what's to come…now hopefully when I reach those moments you all actually feel that way and don't hate me.  
But this post is also to let you know that I'm still around. This story isn't over, it's just been forever because I still have to live life and this isn't my job. I would love for it to be, but it's not :/**

 **But I hope you're all doing well as well. Live life, but also take care of yourselves!  
And I hope this chapter excited you for all the fun that's to come :3**


	50. Chapter 50

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

 ****Chapter #50

 ***Sunday March 13, 2016. 1:00p.m. at the beach***

 ****Once everyone had discussed the room arrangements and had unpacked, everyone slept. Literally everyone. Some people found some cozy places throughout the gigantic mansion of a house, like Donatello and Kris who had explored the outside of the house and had discovered the extremely comfortable hammocks on the humongous outside deck (which there was also more than one).  
The majority of the group however just stayed in their rooms and relaxed. It was 12:30 when everyone was officially awake and ready for some fun activities on their very first day of vacation and the first thing on everyone's mind was the beach.

Each room had its own mini living area including a mini kitchen and even a mini living room (including a hot tub, which everyone in the group was also eager to try out). On each fridge was a list explaining how things were run and what the group would need to take care of since there were no workers attending their jobs due to the group's request. These lists included information about what devices were located on the docks and also what beach or outside equipment was located in a shed right by the dock as well. The group made sure to get ready and was down by the beach at 1:00p.m.

The first thing the group did was explore what materials were available in the shed and were amazed at the variety of materials available. Of course everyone first grabbed the sunscreen, even the turtles who were forced to put some on thanks to Sam (whether they actually needed it or not, no one was sure, but Sam wasn't allowing them to take that risk, and Splinter just smiled and agreed with whatever the young and determined woman said).

Mikey and Kris then went for the volleyball and the volleyball net. The two worked together to set up the net while Raph and Leo were testing the feel of actually walking into the ocean for the first time (April made sure to take pictures because their faces were priceless and their smiles were wider than ever). So far the guys had only ever experienced the waters during their mission in Brazil, and that wasn't exactly a fun time. This was a much better first true experience towards water outside the sewers and the boys were enjoying every second of it.

Meanwhile, Donnie was building sand castles with Renet and was teaching her what tricks to use to make the castle stand as tall and as long as possible. The rest of the group was still lotioning up at this time.  
"Guys we need to make teams!" Mikey called out.  
"I'm busy" Donnie called over.  
"Go!" Renet bluntly stated.  
"Well, I see my help has been appreciated" Donnie teased.  
Renet giggled. "Go play with your brothers, I'll hold down the fort…unless you don't trust me" she teased as she turned her head and pouted.  
"Ohhh, we've taught you so well" Donnie said as he hugged the girl and then ran over to join his brothers.  
Brenda and Jay then walked over, taking their turn to play with their daughter.

Raph and Leo had already exited the water and were standing amongst the group of teens.  
April and Casey had already been passing the volleyball back and forth nearby.  
"Since when did you get so athletic?" Raph called over.  
"Since I've become the mother of four mutants that can pick me up and throw me over their shoulder" she called as she hit the ball so hard that Casey missed it.  
He looked at her in awe.  
"Whatever you're doing to train her, I want in" he said as he ran to get the ball.  
"Well training starts now. Get over here so we can pick teams" Leo said as he waved him over.  
"Where's Sam?" Donnie asked as he started counting heads to see if they would have even teams.  
"She's almost done lotioning up" April said as she then turned towards Irma who was standing further away and helping Sam put on sun screen.  
It was at this moment that the turtles realized that they had never seen Sam in a bathing suit. They had officially seen her in a dress, and they had seen her in sports bras that revealed nothing and covered her very well, but was this how she dressed when she went to the beach? Did she wear bikini bottoms? She had always worn shorts in front of them, so how would she look now.  
They each turned towards each other and gave each other a look that without words stated "we remain calm and show no signs of change," to which each of them nodded in agreement.  
Kris caught on to this however and let out a light laugh.  
"Guys, its Sam. There's not going to be anything shocking about the way she dresses to the beach.  
"Yet we saw her in heels and with make-up on at the wedding" Raph said, emphasizing his surprise when he saw her that way.  
Kris looked confused. "Yeah, but all women dress that way at a wedding."  
"Yeah, and all women wear revealing bikinis that show off their boobs and butt at the beach" Mikey said as he was using his feet to juggle the volleyball back and forth between him and Casey.  
"Um, I'm not" April stated. She was wearing a sporty bathing suit (she had gone shopping with Sam) where the top made a V but it was thick enough where the V did not reveal anything, this was also because athletic bathing suits were a bit tighter and didn't allow as much jiggling up top. She was also wear athletic bikini bottoms that were solid black.  
"Yeah, but I can't even picture Sam wearing what you're wearing" Donnie stated.  
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing" April said with raised brows as she crossed her arms and smiled.  
"On you it's fine, but Sam has never worn anything like that. She wears sports bras that reveal nothing, and we've never seen her wear anything other than shorts."  
"So what exactly are you looking for, you know, since she's not revealing anything?" April asked in a manipulating tone.  
Donnie just shook his head and smiled. "You just love twisting my words around don't you?" he asked.  
"April and Sam hangout a lot now, they have become one maniacal duo" Leo stated with a smile.

"Hey guys, did we pick teams yet?"  
Everyone turned to see that Sam had finally ran down and joined the group.  
Kris was not shocked at what she was wearing because he knew her personality and knew what she would be wearing. April already knew what she would be wearing since she had gone with Sam when all the women in the group went to buy bathing suits. Casey just saw Sam as being Sam and, well, he also wasn't a teenage boy (plus he was focused on how gorgeous April looked in her athletic wear).  
The guys all smiled as they saw Sam wearing a very comfortable bathing suit that fitted her personality perfectly.  
She was wearing a sporty crop top bikini top that covered everything perfectly and had thin straps that ran over her shoulders and along the back of the suit (no ties of course, she wasn't going to allow any part of her top to come off and reveal her breasts) and she was wearing a bikini bottom bathing suit, but no one would ever know since she was wearing a pair of board shorts that reached down to her mid-thigh.

The oldest three thought that this outfit fit her perfectly and weren't shocked like when they had seen her at the wedding, the youngest brother however, was a bit shook.  
He was expecting much thicker straps, or even a long sleeve surf shirt, he had never expected to see such thin straps criss cross along the top of her shoulders.  
And he assumed her shorts would reach down closer to her knees, not so short that they only reached her mid-thigh, which was also skin he had never seen before. Sam loved where epic designed spandex under her shorts and also did so in case she needed to change shorts so that she wouldn't have to run somewhere and change in private. But all those spandex shorts run long, she never wore volleyball spandex, so seeing this sight was a surprise to him.  
Mikey was so shocked at what he was seeing (even though no one would ever know since he bore the same exact calm smile as his brothers) that when Casey beamed the ball back to him, it hit him right in the face.  
It stung a bit, but he was in the back where no one could see him, so he just stood there and continued to smile, pretending he was fine.  
April had seen everything though, but she wasn't going to say a word.

"Alright let's pick teams!" Raph called. "I'm team captain."  
"Whoa! Why do you get to be team captain?" Mikey called out.  
"Because I can kick your butt if you try to say otherwise" he said as he shoved his hand into his brother's face and pushed him backwards.  
"Well I get to be team captain because I'm the leader" Leo said.  
"I think I should be team captain because I can hold the ball so that none of you can tough it" Donnie said with a smirk as he knocked the ball out of Raph's hand, who had been preventing Mikey from getting to it.  
"I say you all get stuck working together since right now you all sound like annoying 4 year olds" Sam said as she crossed her arms.  
"Heyyyyyy" came a young voice from further behind them.  
Sam displayed an apologetic smile as she slowly turned around.  
"Hehe, sorry Renet" Sam said with her hands clapped in front of her.  
"Hmmmm that does sound interesting though" April said.  
"What?" Casey asked.  
"Mutant brothers verse the humans. I think we could take em. What do you guys think?"  
The youngest three brothers looked at each other and shrugged. Raph nudged Leo in order to get a response.  
"What?" Leo asked. He had been staring off as he watched Renet run over and pull Splinter by the hand down to where her sand castle was. He had been meditating, but seeing this child's creation and then help her build it so that it was even sturdier obviously was much more important which was made evident by the huge smile on the rat's face.  
"Humans verse mutants. You cool with crushing their hopes?"  
"I'm sorry, what?" Casey asked as he now got closer to Raph.  
"You heard me" Raph said, now taking a step closer towards Casey.  
"I think we can take care of ourselves" Casey said, trying to act tough.  
Raph just shook his head and smiled. "Alright tough guy" he said as he snatched the ball from Donnie, who had been holding it at his side, and then shoved it into the stomach of the man in front of him, "let's see if you can stay true to your word."  
"Hey! You guys are wearing the bathing suits I bought you!" Sam randomly called out.  
Casey and Raph just stared at her.  
"Good luck having dazed and confused on your team" Raph said with a smirk.  
"I'd make a comeback if I wasn't so happy you're wearing the bathing suits I looked for two weeks for" she said with a beaming smile. She then turned towards Mikey. "So you're cool if I'm not on your team this round?" she asked, since usually the two were a dynamic duo.  
"Yeah, there will be other rounds" he said, waving his hand to show that this was no big deal.  
Sam smiled. "Alright, just checking. Don't hold back" she said as she pat his shoulder and then ran past him.  
Mikey smiled as if everything was okay, but in a way he was glad they weren't on the same team. He wasn't sure he could work with her when she was showing off so much leg!

The first game started. The guys weren't sure what would be the best strategy to determine where each should stand, so they just went based on age. Leo and Mikey were in the front, with Raph behind Leo and Donnie behind Mikey.  
On the other team stood Kris and Sam in the front, and then Casey and April in the back. This way there was always a guy and a girl in each rotation so that the guys couldn't try to take advantage of that aspect.  
Donnie was the first to serve the ball and was shocked to see April bump it back with ease. Raph bumped the ball up so that Leo could spike it downwards, but Casey called it and dove forward so that when he got to it in time Kris was able to spike it downwards. They got the point that time. However, the next time the ball was served and this happened, the ball was right by the net and of course Raph was there to get it before Kris could jump up and slap it back to the other side.  
There were multiple times throughout the game where the match got playfully intense. Of course there were times where Raph and Sam were matched up and they basically made it their own personal goal to see who could spike the ball down in front of the other as many times as possible.  
Mikey would playfully flirt with April each time they were in front of each other, and of course the first time this happened she made sure to bump the ball high enough so that Mikey couldn't reach it. He caught on quickly and also made it a personal goal to always pass the ball to where she was, and being the ninja he was, he always hit it in spots where it was difficult to determine whether she or the person next to her should go for the ball.  
She shook her head and smiled. "You're going down Hamato" she said as she pointed at him.  
"Bring it angel cakes, make my day" he said with a smirk.  
Leo and Kris somehow also made it clear that they were challenging each other as well (even though none of these challenges were ever truly spoken, but they knew who was challenging who).  
Kris was constantly mocking Leo's stances as he tried to stay poised and ready for anything that might come up, and because of this Leo constantly spiked the ball at the boy's feet.  
"Hey! My eyes are up here" Kris said, pointing from his toes to his face, "I didn't give you permission to look further down" he pouted as he crossed his arms.  
"It's just so tempting" Leo mocked as he stared the other teen right in the eyes and smiled.  
"Get a room!" Sam called out as she cupped her hands around her mouth.  
The two boys looked at each other and shrugged.  
"We got one" Leo said.  
"Then let's go!" Kris said as he ducked under the net and then jumped into Leo's arms.  
"Later guys!" the two screamed as Leo began to run off.  
"Well that's a ship I didn't see coming" April said "I thought Raph was gonna run away with Casey first. Guess Raph is to wimpy to confess his love."  
"HEY!" Raph called out and pointed at the woman. "I'm not wimpy! Casey already knows he's mine! I bought him jewelry and everything!"  
Casey was now nodding his head. "It's true, for my birthday he got me a man necklace."  
"A what now?" Sam asked, raising a brow and leaning to her side in a cocky manner.  
"You know, a man necklace. A necklace for guys. Obviously he wouldn't wear the same necklace that you would see April wearing" Raph said crossing his arms and leaning onto the man in front of him.  
Casey nodded his head. "What can I say? He gets me" he said as the two bumped knuckles.  
"Well apparently you don't love each other as much as those two" Donnie teased.  
Mikey then turned towards Jay.  
"Hey Jay! Kris loves Leo more than you do!" he shouted over to the man who was being buried in the sand.  
"What?!" he screamed.  
"Dad! Go prove you love Uncle Leo more!" she said with a beaming giggling smile, and with that Jay was now chasing after the duo. He then quickly turned around and called out to Mikey "dude come with me! You take Kris while I win back Leo!"  
Mikey smiled as he then ran off to catch up to Jay (with Casey and Raph not far behind because of course they had to declare their bromance as stronger than the others).  
Donnie held his arms out to the side of him. "That's cool, I don't get a bromance. Whatever. I don't care."  
He then noticed Brenda had walked up beside him. "Well, you could help me win my husband back from the mutant man he just left me for" she said with a wicked yet teasing smile.  
Donnie laughed. "Need a ride over there? You know, before we piss off your husband?"  
Brenda smiled as Donnie turned around and allowed her to jump onto his back.

April and Sam stood there with their heads tilted to the side as they saw the group as they made their way back to one of the decks and were joking around near one of the large outside pools.  
They turned to see that Renet was still playing with Splinter, while Keeno was sleeping in a carrier under a large umbrella, with a blanket hanging over top his carrier so that the sun could not touch him. He was located next to Irma and Vern who were happily talking away, but constantly turning to check on the baby.  
They overheard Renet asking questions to Splinter about his sons, in which he replied "I don't know them."

April then turned to Sam. "You okay with Leo stealing your man like that?" she provoked.  
"Jay?" Sam said disgusted, "no that's my brother. Let Leo do whatever he wants with him."  
"That's not what I meant and you know it" she said as she squinted her eyes at the teen.  
Sam just stood there, her expression making it very clear that she was very confused.  
April rolled her eyes. "I mean Kris! Everyone knows you like him" she said as she nudged the girl.  
Sam looked down at her shoulder where she was just nudged and then slowly lifted her head to look at April, her mouth slightly open and showing her lightly gritted teeth while the rest of her face was scrunched up.  
"I like who now?" she said in a low and sloppily muttered voice.  
Now it was April who looked confused. "Do…do you not like him? Like, like-like him?"  
Sam shook her head, and not in the rapid way that would mean she was nervous. She genuinely shook her head no.  
"Does…does everyone think I like him?"  
"No, well I guess I assumed people thought that since I did. No one has ever actually said that to me though. I know me and Casey think you like him."  
"No, I stopped liking him a long time ago, why did-"  
"Aunt Sam!" Renet cut in, running as quick as she could over to her aunt with her arms open wide, signaling she wanted to be picked up.  
Sam's expression changed once the young child had come closer, and she scooped the young girl up into her arms.  
"What's up buttercup?" she asked as she gently rocked the child while she held her against her hip.  
"Will you go in the water with me? Sensei is going to check on the uncles to make sure they're not acting younger than me" she said with a giggle.  
"Well I would love to go in the water with you! Did you ask Aunt April if she would like to join us?"  
Renet's eyes went wide. "Sorry Aunt April! That was rude of me. Would you like to join us and go in the water?" she said with a beaming smile.  
April walked over and bent down a bit so she was eye to eye with the girl being held in her other aunt's arms.  
"Maybe a little later, that volleyball match tired me out. I'm not anywhere near as athletic as the rest of your aunts and uncles. I'm going to go check on your brother, which I think your mother had the same idea since she's jogging back over here now."

With that, April walked back over to where everything was set up, and Sam placed Renet back down on the ground and took her hand.  
"Have you ever felt the ocean water before?" Sam asked, now noticing Renet was holding onto her hand tightly once her feet touched the ground.  
"No…I thought you were gonna carry me in" she said with a frown.  
"Then why didn't you say so?" Sam asked as she then scooped the child back up with a spin and then hugged her close and blew 'raspberries' against her cheek.  
"Are you ready now?" she asked the hysterically laughing four year old."  
"Yes!" Renet said, throwing her arms around Sam's neck.  
Sam took a few steps into the water and sighed. "The temperature is perfect. There's enough sun where the cold water feels just right. The sun isn't beaming down to the point where it's unbearable, and the water isn't so cold that it makes you feel miserable. Everything is just right."  
Sam was now standing far enough in that the water had reached her upper thighs. A wave splashed up and hit Renet's legs.  
"It's chilly!" she giggled.  
"Well that's because you're not walking in it, so when it hits you it's going to feel really cold. Your body isn't used to the temperature yet. I'll walk a little further so that part of your body is more in the water. Is that okay?"  
The little girl nodded her head as she held on tight to her aunt.  
Sam now walked far enough in so that the water was hitting her waist, and now was hitting Renet's legs. The girl got so excited every time the water splashed up and hit her tummy.  
"I wanna feel the water more!" Renet exclaimed as she happily kicked her feet.  
Sam laughed as she tightly held onto the girl. "Now hold on, we have to go back and get your swimmies if you want to fully go in the water. It's starting to get to high now-"  
Ironically, just as Sam was referencing the high waves, a rather large wave had come crashing down and was up to Sam's neck, meaning it had hit Renet in the face. It was powerful enough to knock Sam backwards and she would have fallen backwards if a tall turtle hadn't shown up behind her at the perfect time.  
Sam instantly began checking on her niece and was waiting for the girl to cry (she knew she cried the first time she was splashed in the face when at a pool when she was a kid) but Renet just shook her head and puckered her lips together.  
"Ew, that's yucky" she said.  
"Are you okay?" Sam asked in a worried tone.  
"Yeah, I just taste yucky" Renet said.  
Sam sighed and then tilted her head back some. "Thanks D, I owe you."  
Donnie smiled down at the two ladies in front of him.  
"I came to see how you two were doing, looks like I make a smart choice."  
"As always" Renet said, making the other two laugh at her blunt honesty.  
"Let's go back and wipe our mouths with a clean towel. I don't like that salty taste either."  
"Uncle Donnie, why is the ocean salty?" Renet asked as the three made their way back to shore.  
"Salt is poured into the ocean from rainfall on large rocks from land. This salt builds up in the ocean because the only way water can leave the ocean is through evaporation. And when the water evaporates it doesn't take the salt with it. So you end up with less water, and the same amount of salt, resulting in a pretty salty sea" he said nonchalantly.  
"Renet" Sam said.  
"Hm?"  
"Repeat what Donnie just said."  
"Salt comes from rocks on land. The water only leaves the ocean from evaporation, or the water turning into air. But the salt doesn't leave with the water, so the ocean becomes even more salty."  
Sam raised her eyes and nodded. "Alright, just checking."  
Renet narrowed her eyes. "You didn't think I understood him, did you?"  
"Well, most four year olds wouldn't have a clue what he just said, but then again, you're not like most four year olds" Sam said with a smile.  
"She's a bright one alright" Donnie said, ruffling Renet's hair as she was placed back on the sand and then ran over to her parents.  
"They couldn't have picked a more perfect child to fit this quirky family" Sam said, leaning onto the tall turtle.  
"I was worried that she would tell others about us, but she's bright. She knows how to keep secrets, and not only that, but she comprehends why they're important. She's going to change the world one day. I just know it."  
"Well someone is jumping to conclusions pretty quick" Sam teased.  
"I thought so to the first time that crossed my mind, but she just…doesn't follow the guidelines for how children develop. She can comprehend things that typical children in general wouldn't understand. I was literally talking to her about different parts of the world the other day because she found a globe in my lab, and she absorbed everything I was telling her. I was even asking questions that would prove whether or not she was understanding me and she was able to properly respond to everything. Heh, and then she sees Mikey and goes back to acting like a typical 4 year old" he said as he saw Mikey run up to Renet, who was running up to him, and then watched as Mikey fell back and hold Renet up high as if she had knocked him over all on her own. Donnie couldn't tell which of the two had the bigger smile on their face.  
"I'd be a liar if I said I hadn't noticed it either. She's intelligent. Oh god, that means she's going to turn out like you" Sam said as she looked up at Donatello with a worried wide eyed expression on her face.  
He squinted his eyes as he looked down at her. "And what's wrong with that?"  
"That means…she's going to be a geek!" Sam scream-whispered just loud enough so that her friend could hear.

"Oh" Donnie pouted as he turned around and took a few steps out into the water.  
Sam took a few steps and followed him, afraid that she had touched a nerve.  
"What's wrong?" she asked, slightly concerned, slightly mockingly.  
"I just think you're confused" Donnie said. "Cause geeks can't do this" he said moving so swift that Sam couldn't react and that fast was scooped up and thrown far off into the deeper waters.  
When she popped her head back up above the water, she saw that Mikey had now tackled Donnie screaming "only I can do that to my best friend!"  
Of course, if two brothers were water wrestling, then the other two just had to join, so now it was Raph and Mikey verse Leo and Donnie.  
Of course, Sam had to avenge her best friend! So when Leo wasn't looking, she ran up behind him and jumped on his back, covering his eyes with her hands.  
"I've got him!" Sam called.  
"Back to the water!" Donnie called as he grabbed her and tossed her back.  
"Oh we can do that to" Raph said with a smug look as he caught up to his second to youngest brother and tossed him further out.  
When Sam rose her head from the water, Donnie had made a splash right next to her.  
"Ha! Karma boi!" she said.  
Donnie's reply was to push her back into the water and then run away to avenge his oldest brother, who right now was being lifted by Raph and Mikey.  
Now Kris was joining to avenge his bromance brother.  
The match was now 3 vs. 3…until Renet ran in to avenge the losing team (at the moment, Kris, Leo, and Donnie).  
"Rawr!" Renet called with her hands up in the air.  
"RUN!" Mikey yelled as he literally threw Sam over his shoulder.  
"SHE CAN'T BE STOPPED!" Raph shouted as the two brothers darted onto the shore with a tiny Renet chasing after them.  
The other group was laughing, until Jay walked near the edge of the shore with an even tinier Keno in his arms.  
"Grrr fear me! I have powerful poopy powers! Fear me as much as my diaper!" Jay said in a high pitched voice as he carefully held his son in front of him.  
"Nnn" the three men said as they pretended as if they had been cursed and were losing feeling in their bodies, twitching their arms and grabbing their chests.  
"I can't move!" Leo called out as he fell to his knees.  
"Is this the end?!" Donnie shouted.  
"Hold me" Kris said as he basically trust falled onto Donnie, and the three playfully collapsed in the water.  
"Dang, we have some strong kids! I feel proud as a parent" Brenda said. "We're heading back guys. We want to put Keno down for a nap and get him out of the heat.

The teens all nodded and decided that now was a good time to head back and relax as well. They all headed to the pool while the older humans (being all coupled up) and Splinter as well (who wanted some meditation time since it was happily taken from a young girl on the beach) headed to various places inside the gigantic house.  
The 6 teens decided to test out the gigantic pool, along with its numerous water slides. It was now 2:30, and the teens slid and swam for hours. Eventually they made their way up to the literal designated relax space filled with comfy chairs. They were still wet so they didn't want to go back in just yet, so they all just hung out and talked for a while. They never meant to, but they all drifted back into sleep (they had been playing on the beach and then in the pool for many hours now). Most of them hadn't even realized they had fallen asleep, Mikey being one of them, as he was the first to wake up. He sat up very slowly, rubbing his eyes as he tried to look around.  
The sun was setting now and there was a beautiful pink and red glow across the clouds. He was about to wake up his brothers so that they could see the view as well, but he then realized that Sam was no longer amongst the group.

At first he assumed she had just done inside, but then he saw that her flip flops were still outside. She would have taken them inside if she had gone in, so she had to be somewhere.  
A slight bit of panic began to rise in him as he wondered where she was. He stood up from his lounge chair and walked around some, first checking (and then sighing in relief) to see that she wasn't floating alone in the pool. As he continued to walk around, he saw that the shed door was still open down by the end of the dock. He took a few more steps forward and smiled in relief when he saw her lying on a boogie board out in the ocean.  
He jogged down until he reached the water and then slowly walked out towards where his friend was lying down.  
She turned her head when she felt more ripples growing stronger, and she smiled when she saw her best friend walking towards her.  
"Getting a taste of the ocean before the night ends?" she asked.  
"I am now. I was wondering where you went. I was afraid you fell asleep out here."  
"Nah, too paranoid a wave would get me and I'd panic. This is a place to relax, not to end it."  
"Heh, good to know" he said sarcastically as he leaned back on his shell, floating alongside his female friend.  
"I never thought I would see the ocean again" Sam said calmly.  
"Why?" Mikey asked.  
"I dunno. Life just got dark for a while. I guess I assumed I wouldn't experience normal things like trips to the beach anymore."  
"Ahhh, so that's why you're out here. Letting your thoughts roam, huh?" Mikey said, but Sam could tell by the way he spoke that he was being serious and genuine rather than silly and playful.  
She smiled. "Yeah. It's easier to let thoughts roam when you're alone."  
"Do you still have bad thoughts?" he asked.  
"Not the same way I used to" she said as she now turned onto her stomach on her boogie board. "I mostly just have nightmares every once in a while, but even those have died down."  
"What did you used to think about?" he asked, cautiously, not wanting her to speak of anything that would upset her or make her uncomfortable.  
She sighed. "Robbing stores, figuring out what I could get away with. Not caring about the consequences. Just wanting attention because I was always alone."  
"Why?"  
Sam scoffed. "Why to which one?"  
"All of them" he replied softly.  
Sam turned her gaze towards her friend and now realized how concerned his face was as he stared back at her.  
"Well, I was mad at the world because of what I lost, and I felt like there was nothing to look forward to every time I came home to an empty house. Jay had to work, well, what I thought was actual work in order to provide for us, so he was rarely ever home. I would come home to an empty house with no one to tell me right from wrong, so when I got angry or upset I did whatever I wanted. I never meant to get arrested, but it happened a few times."  
"Then what happened?"  
"Jay would fight for me to get free bail, reminding the authorities about what I had lost and why I was lashing out. That's when therapy started. That was one of the reasons why I stopped stealing and doing petty crimes. God I wanted therapy to end, that was just so frustrating" she groaned as she now turned back over to her back side."  
"What were the other reasons?"  
Sam folded her hands across her stomach. "Mostly therapy, but my coaches and dance instructors said I wouldn't be able to participate if I kept acting the way I was, and I was reaching a point in life where soccer and dance had so much meaning and purpose for me that I couldn't lose that. That and there was one other reason…" she trailed off.  
Mikey stood up in the water and put his hands on the side of the boogie board.  
"We don't have to talk about it if you're not ready" he said.  
Sam then sat up herself.  
"It's fine. Just, don't tell the others okay? I've never really talked to anyone about this."  
"Of course, you know me" he said.  
"Well…I got into an accident once. I was running from a store where I had just stole a couple packs of gum, and I wasn't paying attention and ran right in front of a car…you okay?" Sam asked in fear of the uneasy look her friend was displaying.  
"Yeah" he said with a fake smile, "just, thinking of things."  
"Like?" she asked, wanting him to further explain himself.  
"…just thinking of when we saw you almost die…twice…sorry, this is your story" he said, shaking his head.  
Sam then gently placed her hand on his arm. "Don't ever apologize for being worried about me, it's literally saved my life before. And I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't talk about it."  
"Well now I need to know what happened" he said, trying to lighten the mood.  
"Luckily it wasn't anything serious, but I broke my arm and sprained both ankles, so I was in the hospital for a few nights, and I stayed home for about a week. The pain didn't really faze me…but my brother. That's what truly changed me."  
"Did he lose his shit?" Mikey asked, cringing as he thought of Jay lashing out at Sam, just like when they all returned from Brazil.  
"That's the thing," Sam began, "he was so silent. He got a call that I was in the hospital and from what Brenda eventually told me, since he physically seemed calm, but mentally be was breaking down so she had a talk with me in his place, and apparently he was a mess when he got the call. Almost got into an accident himself speeding to the hospital. I had been so selfish and was so absorbed in my own thoughts that I had forgotten the way he reacted when he found me about to throw back pills the morning I woke up, just hearing the rest of my siblings had died-"  
"Stop" Mikey sternly interrupted. "You're shaking…" he said as he clutched his hand tighter onto her arm.  
She smiled at him. "It's okay, I don't think I can every calmly talk about this, but I promise I'm okay" she said in a calmer and sweet tone.  
"So, your brother made you change your ways?"  
Sam nodded. "Now I wasn't ready to completely change everything, but I knew I needed to make smart changes. I had learned a lot from my failed robbery attempts, and that's what lead me to learning coding and hacking so that I could sneak into places overnight. That's honestly also why I wanted to get back into martial arts and self-defense training. I convinced Jay that it was all so that I could safe, and also more confident in soccer and dance. Those weren't lies, but it wasn't the full truth either."  
"But you made changes for the better. You were able to take better care of yourself so that you weren't in danger like you were before. You still snuck out at night which wasn't safe, but now you could protect yourself. That meant you weren't adding to your record and you weren't hurting your brother. I'm glad you made those changes."  
"Oh really? Why so?" Sam said with a chuckle.  
"You've said in the past that you also would sneak out so that you're siblings would send you a signal that they were watching over you. Well, since Jay allowed you to train yourself, and you stayed home and did things like study up on skills you could use to your advantage sine you weren't sneaking out during the day anymore, you made discoveries at night. And that lead you to the greatest sign your siblings could give you to show you they cared."  
"And that was?" Sam asked with a smile, already knowing where he was going with this.  
"To us. To your new family" he said gently.  
"I know. And I thank them for that every day."  
"I wish I could thank them in person. You've changed our lives. Heh, none of us ever thought we would be here."  
"Neither did I bro, neither did I."

"HEY! Get up here! Dinner is ready inside!"  
The two turned to see Raph calling down to them from further back closer to the house.  
"I love how my stomach doesn't think of food until someone else mentions it" Sam said as she now held her stomach.  
Mikey stood up in front of Sam.  
"Hop on. Your suit looks like it's dry, so no point in both of us having to dry off when we get back."  
"My, what a gentleman" Sam teased she hopped onto her friends back.  
Mikey walked her back to shore and then ran the boogie board back to the shed, hoping that maybe that would help dry his suit off some.  
It didn't do much, so Sam ran inside and grabbed him a pair of soft and dry sweatpants (man she was good at buying comfortable and appropriate sized clothes for the guys!) and then ran them back outside so that Mikey could change in the outside bathroom (since of course there was a lovely bathroom outside, like full plumbing and clean as could get, it was a beautiful bathroom and changing space!)  
The two then made their way inside where they joined the rest of the family in the dining area in the lobby where all the fancy tables were located.  
Everyone was already sitting down and had begun eating food along the dinner buffet. The list of instructions left by the original owners of the house stated that the mutants only needed to be hidden for a short period of time at the beginning of every day when a couple of trucks dropped off food that was usually served buffet style to guests staying at the house (it was easier to serve larger crowds that way). The instructions then informed the group of how to simply prepare the food so that they could eat all three meals each day at the house.  
The two joined everyone for dinner, and after everyone was showered up afterwards, it was straight to bed where everyone fell asleep in mere minutes.

It had been a great first day. 


	51. Chapter 51

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
 **Thank you.****

Chapter #51

 **Spring Break through Renet's eyes:**

She had only known them all for about a month now, and she couldn't have been happier that this was the family she had been destined to be with. In fact, she believed that this family was placed on this earth for her to find them, just like her Aunt Sam had.  
Maybe it was Rachel who had been looking out for her, maybe it was some sort of greater power, but with this family she truly felt she would never ever be alone again.

On Monday morning Renet had woken up very early. She sat up only to see that her parents were still asleep, and as long as Keeno was still sleeping, then so were they. She tip toed over to where the closet was and silently pulled out a clean t-shirt and pair of sporty shorts. Once she had her shoes and clothes on, she silently left the room without anyone knowing she had ever moved a muscle.  
She then ran down the halls, amazed by the beautiful building she was in. She ran down the staircases and then from floor to floor, until she heard movement from the weight room that is.

She walked closer and looked through the glass of the door to see her mutant uncles and her Aunt Sam working out and using all different types of equipment. She didn't realize that she had leaned forward as she stared in awe at her family's incredible strength and abilities until the door had begun to open and she then tumbled forward.  
Leo turned around when he heard the door and smiled when he saw the small child.  
"Well, looks like we have a visitor" he said as he walked over and leaned over the child who was teeny tiny to him even when she was standing up.  
"I wanna be strong like you guys" she said, her eyes still open wide.  
"Heh, well it's going to take a long time for you to be as strong as us" he said as he leaned down and scooped up the child so that she was sitting in his arms.  
"When did you become strong Uncle Leo?" she asked with curiosity.  
"Hmmmm, we were probably 7 or so when Sensei introduced us to martial arts. That's when we started training daily. But you're took young for rough training like that."  
Renet crossed her arms and began to pout. "How am I gonna fight bad guys and save the world if I'm not strong?" she moped.  
Leo couldn't help but chuckle. "And who said it was your job to save the world?" he said with a smile.  
Renet paused, realizing that she might have just said something she shouldn't have. "I want to keep all of you safe. You all protect each other, I want to do the same thing" she replied. This way she wasn't lying, but she wasn't revealing secret information either.  
"Hmmmmm, well Raph is the best at preparing workout routines for the rest of us. Maybe he can come up with something for you. Let's go ask" he whispered as he brought the girls ear close to his face, making the girl giggle from her uncle's silly actions.

Leo walked over towards where Raph was lifting weights as he laid back along a bench, while Sam was standing nearby as his spotter.  
She smiled when she saw Leo walking over with the little bundle known as Renet.  
"Oh Raphael" Sam said in an oddly sweet voice.  
"What?" he grunted as he looked back at her. That's when he saw Sam nod her head forward. Raph looked forward and began to sit up, and that's when he saw his brother and the young child. His expression immediately changed from the annoyed expression from the way Sam had said his full first name to a calmer one.  
"Hey. What's up?" he asked as he stood up and away from the bench.  
"I have a small fry who wants to turn into a tough tatter tot" Leo said, moving her arms as if she was fighting a bad guy.  
Raph chuckled. "Oh really?"  
"Train me?" Renet asked, her hands clapped together in front of her as a means of asking permission.  
While Renet bowed her head forward, Raph and Leo exchanged the same comical look.  
"Ohhhhh fine. I guess I can train you for today" he said as he took Renet from Leo's arms and carried her across the gigantic space to a spot where she could 'train' without using any heavy equipment.

He first taught her some different stretches to complete first so that her muscles would be warmed up. He then took her to a spot where there were hand weights of all different sizes. He then showed her different exercises using the lightest weight they had (which was about 2 pounds). He then showed her how to use machines that would be safe for her. She used the bikes (although Raph had to help her use the pedals), he taught her how to use an ab machine (which was actually just a curved pole that could be used in a variety of different ways, how to use the rowing machine, some different exercises on yoga balls, a mini stepper machine, and a few other machines that were harmless as long as he was there right beside her.  
Within this gym was also a course based on the Ninja Warrior series. Raph ended their training session with helping Renet complete the course. He helped her climb the ladders, he held onto her and helped her jump (which was really him carrying her) from one jumping stone to the other, and he helped her move across each set of monkey bars the course had to offer.

Raph was having so much fun with the child that he hadn't even thought about her parents, not until Jay walked over with a concerned look on his face.  
"Dude! I have no issues with you having a play date with my child, but let a dad know first! Okay?"  
"What are you talking about?" Raph asked, confusion written on his face as he placed the girl back on her feet on the ground.  
"I came down here on my own daddy" Renet said as she walked over and put her arms up so that he dad would hug her.  
Jay crouched down and gave his daughter a huge hug, but then pulled back and put his hands on her shoulders. "Why didn't you tell us you were leaving the room? We woke up and started freaking out because we couldn't find you. We ran into the hall and ran into your uncles who said you were down here."  
"Oh" Raph said as he then looked around the room, "I hadn't realized they even left, hehe."  
Renet smiled at her uncle and then turned back towards her dad.  
"You and mommy were sleeping, so I didn't want to wake you. But I was ready for the day!" she said with excitement.  
Jay smiled. "And that's fine, but next time you need to let us know!"  
"That or inform us to contact your parents" Raph said with his arms crossed as he now walked over and stood over top of Renet.  
The girls smile began to fade. "You're mad at me…" she said in dismay.  
Raph shook his head. "Nah, I'm not mad. But I am worried that you're going to scare your dad again. I don't know if I can train someone without permission" he said, secretly winking to Jay as a signal that he would catch him up later.  
Renet then rapidly began shaking her head. "No! I'll let my parents know next time! I promise!" she said turning back and forth between her dad and her uncle.  
"Good. In that case, training is over for today. Let's go eat" Raph said.  
Jay stood up while holding his daughters hand, and he couldn't keep from smiling when he saw his literally hopping daughter squeeze his own hand while also squeezing the hand of her rough and tough uncle.  
Today was day one of her training with Uncle Raph, which continued throughout the rest of the vacation.  
She would later on be grateful for these training routines that her uncle introduced to her this week and at such a young age. She had no idea now how much these routines would come in handy the older she grew. Donnie was right when he said that one day she would change the world, but for now, she just wanted to spend more time getting to know her 'scary' teddy bear of an uncle.

On Tuesday evening she got to spend more quality time with the oldest brother when the teens had returned to the pool.  
Renet wanted to join the group, but she also had seen teenagers before and she knew that some groups were mean when they didn't want to be bothered from their fun. However, Leo sensed this child just like he had the previous morning (something he was also learning to master) and snuck into the house through a side door. He then scooped up the surprised Renet from the doorway and walked her outside.  
"So why are you hiding from us tatter tot?" he asked.  
"I didn't want to get in the way" she said softly.  
"I'm sorry what?!" he said out loud, shocking the child in his arms. "Well my soul is broken. HEY GUYS!" Leo called out to the others in the pool, "RENET THINKS SHE'S GOING TO GET IN OUR WAY."  
"Ha! I must be hearing things, I thought Leo just said Renet would get in our way" Kris said, literally slapping his knee. "That's funny!"  
"I shall now reenact the way my heart feels" Mikey said as he flopped into the pool.  
Raph, Donnie, and Sam all looked at each other.  
"Ditto" the trio said as they all threw themselves into the pool the same way Mikey just had.  
"See?" Leo said as he placed the girl on her feet and then sat in a chair nearby so that he was on eye level with her, "those dorks over there love you. You can't get in the way when you're the path they want to follow" he said with a smile. "Now let's go back inside and get your floaties-"  
"My swimmies!" she interrupted.  
"My apologies, your swimmies, so that you can join us in the pool" he said as he stood up and walked with her back inside.

The two returned soon with Renet's swimmies which Leo helped blow up and place around her arms.  
He then walked with the girl back over towards the pool. He knew that Renet still wasn't confident in the water yet, so he placed her on top his shoulders as he walked into the pool. Sam had brought a couple boogie boards from the beach shed up to pool since she liked to lay in the sun on the boards. She gave one to Renet and the teens took turns pulling her around the pool, and once Jay and Brenda made their way outside with Keno, Jay jumped into the pool and pretended to chase after her while she was being pulled from the turtles who were pretending to save her from the 'monster' that Jay was acting as.  
At one point Sam pretended that she needed to be saved and Leo held onto Renet in the water so that she could save Sam. This process was then repeated as Leo helped Renet save Mikey, then Donnie, then Kris, and then Raph.  
After a couple more hours in the pool, Renet grew very tired.  
Many of the teens and adults had taken breaks and had rested throughout their time at the pool, and everyone had taken turns holding baby Keno, but Leo had decided to play with Renet as much as he could since he didn't always get the quality time he would have hoped for with the girl.  
Between all the aunts and uncles the young child had, it wasn't always easy getting time to play and bond with her, so he wanted to take advantage of this time as best he could. That was why he also offered to take the groggy child inside and freshen up once it was obvious how tired she was.

Leo walked with Renet to the elevator that took them to her parent's room. Leo had Renet take a 'tubby' but had her keep her bathing suit on. This way he could help clean the chlorine from her eyes, but not have her sit completely naked in the tub as well. Of course, Renet got her second wind and wanted to play once she was in the tub.  
Well Leo wasn't ready to say no to bath paints and bathtub fishing. Leo taught Renet how to write some Japanese kanji on the sides of the tub and was surprised at how easily the child was able to copy his own handwriting.  
Soon after, Renet had thrown a bunch of toy fish into the tub so that she and Leo could use toy fishing rods to pull them out of the water.  
Finally, the actually tubby was complete and as Leo was helping Renet dry off and change into a clean pair of clothes, he began to count how many times she had yawned (it was 9, oh now it was 10 times).  
Leo smirked as he walked the sleepy child over towards one of the beds. After the long day full of play he had had, he decided to lay down next to her, but leaving enough space so that if he happened to turn over that he wouldn't hurt her. He fell asleep…and the next thing he knew, he was gently being shaken awake.  
"Hey bro, time to wake up" he heard Raph saying.  
Leo groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "What time is it?"  
"Dinner time!" he heard his youngest brother call out from down the hall (which he also heard Sam smack him because 'Renet was sleeping in there').  
Leo rubbed his eyes as he sat up. He then stared down at Renet who was still sound asleep.  
"You okay?" Raph asked him.  
Leo looked confused. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"  
"Hmph, sorry. It was just the look you were giving her" Raph replied as he sat down on the bed.  
Now Leo's eyes were wide. "Was my stare creepy? Was it weird?"  
Raph chuckled softly. "No, you just looked at her as if you were a dad."  
"Is…is that weird?" Leo asked.  
"No, trust me. I've had talks with Jay and Casey about it. Apparently all four of us do it. They say it's just natural instincts and Jay says him and Brenda appreciate that we have them. They're always trying to monitor the baby so they love that we know how to be protective of their daughter. They also think us being so fatherly is what's helping Renet get so comfortable so quickly with the whole family."  
"Well our family is definitely one that takes a while to get used to" Leo chuckled.  
They both then looked back down at the sleeping child.  
"Man I want one of these one day" Raph said softly.  
"Me to. I never realized how great it would be to have a kid around. And we're fortunate to have two in our lives now" Leo said with a smile.  
"Hopefully more in the future when Sam and Kris get married. And if April ever gets married then she might have some to."  
"But let's not rush things. Let's cherish the time we have with these two while they're still kids" Leo said.  
"Couldn't have said it better myself bro" Raph stated.  
"Hey, you guys coming?" Kris said as he now stood in the doorway.  
"Yup, who wants to carry the tatter tot?"  
"I'll do it. You guys keep hogging her, so I'll take care of her this time" Kris teased, which then lead to him receiving nudges from the two brothers.

Of course, Renet being the sneak she was, was acting the entire time. She had been awake ever since she heard Mikey yelling in the hallway, but she kept her eyes closed so that no one would notice (something Sam and Mikey had taught her).  
She was shocked to hear her uncles talk as if they were never going to have children one day. Granted, there were still a lot of people that would eventually enter their lives that they had never met, but did they really think that she was one of the only kids that would enter their lives?  
And why did they think Aunt Sam was going to marry Uncle Kris? That was a bit shocking to her. Apparently they had no idea who Sam really loved (or who she would love, since nothing could tell Renet when her aunt fell in love with her husband when she did, she just knew that one day it would happen). But she wondered why they thought it would be Kris. Was it because he was human? He acted the same way that the others did around her, and Sam treated him the same as she did the others, so maybe her turtle uncles assumed that Sam would only date a human. She did just hear her uncles talk as if they would never have kids of their own, so maybe that's how they felt.

She carefully brought it up with her intelligent uncle the following afternoon when she was with him on the beach. Every day at one point or another throughout that entire week, Renet ended up on the beach with Donatello. There were days when he taught her how to fly a kite, there were days where they went sightseeing and watched dolphins from the shore, some days they went scuba diving and examined different plants and animals they saw in the water. Today, they were collecting shells. It was part of a craft that Renet was completing. She took some sand from the beach and scooped that into a zip lock bag. She also had a bucket in which she was placing small shells. At home she had a jar where she would place all the shells and would then pour the sand in from the beach.  
Of course, the entire time she was on the beach with her uncle, the two were always talking up a storm.  
"Uncle Donnie, what do you and your brothers think of humans?" she asked as she picked up a rosy pink colored shell she spotted in the water.  
"Can you be more specific?" he asked as he picked up a shell, but then tossed it back into the water once he realized it was badly cracked.  
"Do you like humans?" she asked.  
Donnie chuckled. "Well of course we like humans. You and your entire family are made of humans. That and we saved the entire city, well, the world actually. And the world is made of humans. So yes, we care about them. Why do you ask?"  
"I thought maybe that's why you all think Aunt Sam likes Uncle Kris."  
Donnie paused while the two were crouched down in the water.  
"Why would that have anything to do with whether we like humans or not?" he asked gently.  
"I thought maybe you assumed she liked him because they were both human."  
"Ahhhh I see" he said as the two stood up and continued to walk along the shoreline. "And why are you worrying about things like that in the first place?" Donnie asked.  
Renet had to think of an excuse.  
"Because I'm a child, and I see everything" she said in a playfully menacing tone before running along the shore towards a shiny shell.  
"Well, I definitely can't argue with that" Donnie said as he placed his arms behind his head and trailed behind the young girl.  
"Gasp! Something you can't argue with? You can't be my Uncle Donnie" Renet teased as she stuck her tongue out playfully.  
Donnie stopped and stared at the child with raised brows.  
"Well something I can argue about is whether that shell belongs to you or me!" he said he snatched it from her hand and then 'ran' away.  
"Hey!" Renet laughed, "that's mine!"  
"Well let's look at the facts. I'm taller, I'm faster, and I'm a ninja" he said as he dorkily kicked his leg in front of him, "therefore, unless you can defeat me, then this shell is mine."  
"Well the facts say that finders keepers losers weepers" she said with her hands on her hips.  
"Those aren't facts because they can't be proven. Soooo I win you lose!" he said as he continued to take long and slow strides along the shore.  
Within seconds, tiny little Renet was chasing her tall uncle all over the beach. Once Donnie could see that Renet was growing tired, he pretended to trip and collapse onto the beach.  
"Oh no!" he said.  
"Got it! It's mine!" Renet said as she scooped up the shell into her hands.  
Donnie snapped his fingers and placed his fist under his chin as he sat up in the sand. "You got me this time. This has been a terrible tale of the troublesome tatter tot" he teased.  
Renet walked up to Donnie and sat in his lap.  
"It's okay Uncle Donnie, I'll share it with you" she said as she held it close to his face. "It's purple, so we can take turns keeping it" she said with a beaming smile.  
"You've already shared more with me then you'll ever know" Donnie said as he smiled and hugged his niece.  
As the two gathered their belongings and made their way back to the relax space, Renet wondered if what her uncle had said was similar to what her two oldest turtle uncles were talking about the other day.  
'He must be the same way. He must think I'm one of the only kids he'll ever see.'

Donnie laid down on a hammock so that he could look up at the stars, but his gaze was distracted and redirected to the four year old who climbed up and was now sitting on his stomach.  
"Uncle Donnie, are you ever going to have kids?" Renet asked bluntly.  
Donnie fought to hide his laughter. "Ex-squeeze me?" he asked.  
"Will-you-ever-have-kids?" she asked as she clapped out the syllables.  
"No" Donnie said, "why?"  
"…I want cousins" Renet stated. This was a lie. She loved her baby brother and was fine with how things were now where it was just two children being spoiled with attention, but she needed to say something without giving away her real reason for wanting to know.  
"Well even if I had kids, they would be even younger than your baby brother by the time they were born silly. Now what's up with these questions today? Did Uncle Mikey say something stupid in front of you again?" he asked as he rolled his eyes.  
"No" Renet giggled, "and I always ask you questions."  
"Yes, but today they have a unique theme. Why are you asking personal questions?"  
Now Renet felt embarrassed, she couldn't think of an excuse that wouldn't make her uncle feel sad.  
"Renet" Donnie said more sternly, "be honest. It's okay" he reassured her.  
Renet looked down while she spoke. "Why do you all think that you're never going to have families?" she asked in a low voice.  
Donnie scrunched his face. "Now why are you worried about something like that?" he asked gently, sitting up some so that he could sit face to face with her.  
"I want you all to be happy. You guys all helped change my life in such a short amount of time and have made me so happy. Why don't any of you think that you'll be happy like that?"  
"But, we're already happy Renet. We have more than we could have ever asked for right here, right now. Me talking to you on a beach is literally something I never thought would ever happen to me."  
The girl shook her head. "That's not the type of happiness I mean. I mean like how dad looks at mom, and how he looks at me and Keno."  
Donnie paused, wondering how he should respond to this.  
"You see….your uncles and I…we would love to have something like that. But, it's not really possible-"  
"Why not?" she asked in a demanding tone.  
He displayed an apologetic look, as if what he was about to say would upset her.  
"You and your parents, Sam and Kris, Irma and Vern and April and Casey, they're each a one in a million type people. Meaning that there's no one else like them. They accept us for who we are, not what we look like. Like, Sam has literally put her life on the line to protect my brothers and I. Not everyone in this world would care about others like that. Sam cares about us, and we all care about her. That's why our families are connected, because we all care about one another and would do anything for the others. But not ALL humans are that way."  
"But Aunt Sam said that there are people in the city that want to thank you! They care about you!" Renet said as she excitedly started kicking her feet, hoping that maybe this conversation is what Rachel was talking about and was the surprise that would lead to her uncle's future.

Donnie sighed with a smile.  
"They may support us, but we can't put our trust, our lives in the hands of hundreds of thousands of people we don't know. It's complicated to explain. We are and will be forever grateful for what the people of New York do for us, but we're still ninjas. We still live in the shadows. That's why there are no workers here, because we can't be seen. But you should be happy about that" Donnie said.  
Renet titled her head to the side.  
"Why?"  
"Because that means that we can dedicate more of our time towards you" he said as he hugged her once more, something that he was more prone to doing ever since the children had entered his life.  
"And Keno to, right?"  
"Oh of course Keno to! We would never leave him out" Donnie said as he rested his chin on top of the small girls head.  
"Good. Oh! A shooting star!" Renet exclaimed.  
"That's a plane" Donnie said as he leaned back and laid down in the hammock.  
"What about that one?" she asked.  
"Another plane."  
"Man I can't catch a break" she said as she flopped backwards.

The two continued to look up at the actual stars for the rest of the night until they had both fallen asleep in the hammock and needed to be carried in by the others.

Renet decided to drop the questions for now (Donnie wasn't the only uncle she asked interesting questions to). She knew what was in store for everyone in her family, so she decided to leave the topic alone. That and if she began asking too many questions then she might change things in a bad way, so she chose to keep quiet. However, right now she was screaming in excitement while she was riding on a jet ski with her youngest turtle uncle.

She could see her mother holding onto her father's arm for dear life in fear that something was going to happen to their daughter, but she knew her Uncle Mikey deserved more credit than that. This was one of her favorite things about her youngest mutant uncle. While the other three said it wasn't safe for her to be out on a jet ski, Mikey knew his boundaries and knew he could keep her safe. He knew how to have fun without being so paranoid. This was also due to him having incredible reflexes. There had been a few times that Renet had been down to the lair and had the opportunity to watch her uncles spar from afar and while Mikey joked around A LOT, he did pay attention and was always alert. Granted, sometimes him being alert kicked in at the very last second, but she lost track of how many times his brothers thought they were about to win the match and then Mikey dodged at the last second, as if getting a second wind and becoming twice as skilled as before. He was the same way with physical activities.

When they were all on the water slides, Mikey was the one who went down with her so that he would be right there in case something went wrong and she got scared and couldn't swim. Mikey was the one to help her learn how to boogie board and feel comfortable in the water. Mikey was the one who taught her how to do basic rolls and flips on the trampolines near the game room. There was so much that Mikey helped her learn and feel comfortable with, and more than anything, Mikey trusted her.  
He made it very clear when they were getting ready to ride the jet ski that she would have to sit relatively still so that she wouldn't fall off (even though they also twisted the clips on her life jacket so that she was literally strapped to him) and that she needed to hold onto a small handle in the front so that she could hold onto something tightly. He explained to her what to do if they tipped and that in order for her to ride with him then she had to follow the rules. While the others weren't so sure if Renet would be okay with all of this at such a young age, Mikey trusted that Renet would follow the rules and he believed that she would be able to handle the fast speeds of the Jet Ski, and right now the child was extremely grateful for his trust in her.

"Let's go faster!" she shouted.  
"What?! We're already going so fast that we passed everyone else twice!" Mikey announced with a laugh.  
"I love feeling the wind in my hair" the child said as she turned her head side to side.  
"Then you'll love this, hold on tight!" he said as he sped up to an upcoming wave and made the jet ski jump off the water some.  
Of course Renet was howling with laughter. She was enjoying every second of this action packed adventure she was currently on.  
The group was following a course that was set up further out into the water. Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all had their own jet ski. Casey was riding with April, which he had no complaints about holding onto her while she drive, and then Kris and Sam each had their own as well. Vern was driving a jet ski as well with Irma holding onto him tightly from behind.  
"Ohhhhh we're gonna pass grammy!" Renet said, lightly kicking her legs from the fun of passing others on the speedy water vehicle.  
"Let's go!" Mikey said, swiveling and swerving quickly throughout the course until minutes later they made a sharp turn and passed by the others.  
"YESSSSSS we're winning!" Renet exclaimed.  
"Hehe, let's go splash Uncle Raph" Mikey whispered, and he couldn't help but laugh at the adorable yet wicked face the child made in agreement with his claim.  
The two sped up some and as they made their turn, splashed the heck out of Raphael.  
"Argghhhh I'm gonna get you back for this, just wait!" Raph bellowed.  
Renet, who now knew more about how her sometimes grumpy uncle acted, knew that he would not actually hurt her (maybe get a little rough with Mikey though) and giggled at his reaction.  
Renet then gasped and began to squirm.  
"What's up tatter tot?" Mikey asked.  
"I gotta pee" she said.  
"Well then let's park and I'll run you inside" he said. He double checked behind him on both sides and then drove away from the course. He carefully pulled up to the side of the dock and then turned off the jet ski.  
"What happened?" Jay called from the side.  
Mikey scooped Renet up so that she was now sitting on his shoulder, and as he ran he screamed out "we're taking a pee break!"  
Renet giggled when she saw her parents sigh, and also Sensei shaking his head at his son's silly remark.

The two made their way into the gigantic house so that Renet could 'use the potty,' and she almost made it…but she was a few seconds short. She was potty trained and could use the bathroom by herself, but she had waited too long and it was a decently long run back to the house, even if they were using the bathroom outside by the pool.  
Luckily, there was also a shower in this rather large bathroom.  
"Looks like we'll have to get you cleaned up before we head back outside. You can't go back and swim in a peed in bathing suit. That only works if you're surrounded by the ocean" he teased, trying to make her feel better.  
He then realized that the young girl was beginning to cry.  
"Oh no. What's wrong?" he asked in concern.  
"I peed myself like a baby" she said as a few tears drizzled down her cheeks.  
Mikey sat down criss cross and pulled the child over towards him and gave her a hug.  
"Hey, it happens sometimes. I used to wait until the last second as a kid all the time, so I had a lot of accidents when I was even older than you" he said as he gently pat her on the back.  
Renet then took a step back so she could face him.  
"Really?!"  
"Mhmmmm, really-really. Of course my brothers always teased me about it, but that's just what brothers do."  
"Will….will they tease me?" she asked, her face growing sad once again just from the thought alone.  
"What? Of course not! But, if it makes you feel any better, I'll keep this a secret between the two of us" he said with an honest smile.  
Renet then nodded her head as a few more tears spilled from her eyes.  
"Now let's get you showered up and out of these bottoms. There's towels outside so I can always wrap you up in one so no one knows you're not wearing bottoms" he said as he began to stand up and make his way over towards the shower.

Mikey knew that his brothers were sensitive to things like giving Renet a bath since she was a girl, but he knew that most adults were fine with things like this as long as the kids were still very young. Because of this, he helped Renet take off her yucky bathing suit bottoms and he let them soak in the sink while he turned the shower on and let her stand there and rinse off.  
Afterwards, just like he promised, he quickly got a towel from one of the racks outside and wrapped it around the girls waste so that it looked like the towel was being used as her skirt. He walked inside with Renet and lead her up to her room where he helped her change out of her bathing suit.  
"Do you wanna go back to the beach, or do you wanna stay inside?" he asked the girl who was now jumping on the bed.  
"Is it okay if we stay inside?" she asked softly.  
"Of course!" he said as he caught her mid-jump and placed her back on the floor so he could help her get dressed. "And I know exactly where we're going to go" he said.  
The two left the room (Renet quickly latching onto her uncle's hand) and they made their way down towards the trampoline and rock climbing room.

As soon as Mikey opened the door, Renet ran right in and ran towards one of the longer trampolines and instantly began rolling around.  
"Well look at you, our little ninja in training" he said as he walked over and fell backwards onto a trampoline.  
"You really think so?!" she said as she sat up and stared at him.  
"Well yeah. In another life you would totally be kicking butt with us" he said as rolled forward so that now he was next to the child.  
Renet pouted and crossed her arms. "Why can't I fight bad guys with you in this life?" she asked.  
"Because" he said as he pat her head, "you're thinking of things from a kids perspective and have no idea how dangerous and serious being a ninja really is" he said with a smile.  
"But one day I'll grow up and I'll be mature enough to fight. You guys can't save the world forever."  
"Ouch. That's pretty dark" Mikey said.  
"Sorry" Renet said with a saddened expression.  
"Why do you want to be a ninja so badly? Even Sam has other future goals. She's going to be a soccer star and a dancer in the next few years, so she doesn't even want to be a ninja forever. So why are you so dedicated towards becoming one?" he asked gently as he now sat criss cross facing her.  
"I want to keep you all safe" she said, not fully telling him the truth.  
"Awwww but that's our job. Your job is to change our diapers when we get old" he teased as he gently nudged her with his foot.  
This got the girl to smile, along with an 'ewwww' as she ran forward and leaped onto him. And of course the playful uncle rolled backwards with the girl in his arms as she pretended to fight and defeat him.  
15 minutes later the two were in a position where Renet was sitting on Mikey's shell while Mikey groaned and begged for mercy.  
"Pleaseeeeeee let me go! I'm innocent!" Mikey begged, trying to crawl away from the child sitting on his back.  
"See, I could totally save your butt from bad guys" she said, crossing her arms and nodding in confidence.  
"So we're back to that, huh?" he said as he rolled over so that now the child was sitting on his stomach.  
"I'll never back down" Renet teased.  
"Well how about this? When you're my age, then I'll train you so that you can become a ninja and save everyone. Okay?" he asked, putting his hand out for a fist bump.  
'You're going to train me way sooner than that, but I'll play along with this for now' the child thought to herself.  
"Okay" Renet replied while following through with the fist bump. She then looked over towards the rock wall. "Will you help me climb that before my parents get back?"  
"Girl I've been waiting for you to ask. But remember, you have to follow my rules. Okay?"  
"Got it!" Renet exclaimed as she rolled to her side and then began to run over towards the rock wall, but then stopped and turned around and ran back to her uncle so she could give him a big hug.  
"Awwww, what's this for?" he asked as he snuggled his chin against the top of the girls head.  
"Thank you. For trusting me, and for believing in me. Everyone else still sees me as a child, but you trust me more than they do. That and you can keep secrets. One day I'm going to owe you a lot of favors" she teased.  
Mikey then kneeled down in front of the child.  
"You know why I treat you differently from everyone else?"  
"Why?"  
"Because even though I'm 17, people treat me like a baby to. I'm literally the same age as my brothers, but because I was the last to be born they see me as the baby. Honestly, that's why I act the way I do sometimes, because that's how they all view and treat me. But I'm a lot more than the kid they think I am. And I believe that you're a lot more than just a typical 4 year old. They're going to see you as a child no matter how old you are. I'll always be a baby brother, just like how you'll always be the little girl that joined our family as a daughter and as a niece."  
"You're really smart, and really insightful Uncle Mikey. I'll never forget that, I promise" the girl said as she put her pinky forward.  
"And I'll never forget about your feelings either kiddo" he said as he completed the 'pinky promise.' "Now where on earth did you learn the word insightful at your age?" he asked as he walked with her over towards the rock wall.

The ironic part of this conversation between the two was that Mikey had no idea that one day he would train Renet to help do incredible things, and Renet had no idea how important it would be that she could trust her uncle more than anyone else in the family. Neither one knew of what was in store for their future. But one day, they would look back on this conversation and laugh at the irony. For now, they were just worried about climbing this rock wall before anyone found out.

 **Sorry I don't know how to change the title, but this is everything that is part of chapter 51. So this is the official end of chapter 51. If you enjoyed this chapter then please continue reading onto chapter 52 :D**


	52. Chapter 52

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
 **Thank you.****

 ****Chapter #52

 ***Saturday, March 19th, 2016. Last day of family vacation***

 ****All throughout the week the women had been swimming/boogie boarding/jet skiing in the ocean, jumping on trampolines, climbing rock walls, working out in the gym, sliding down water slides, playing various sports, having dance parties, playing video games (some of which were very interactive) and so much more throughout the week. After spending a week completing multiple physical activities, the ladies in the group wanted one night where they could all just kick back and relax by themselves.  
They were outnumbered after all. There were 4 women and there were 9 guys (not including the children) so they had been keeping up with all the active men in the group, so they needed a break. Even Sam agreed that a nice relaxing girls night was needed, so the women decided to get comfortable in their bathing suits and hangout in one of the vacant rooms.

It was the last night that everyone was on vacation, so the ladies wanted to hang out in one of the hot tubs in one of the vacant rooms where they could all be alone. All the guys had had their boy's night the previous night, and there were multiple times where it had happened to just be groups of guys all throughout the trip, so the men agreed to babysit and hangout where they wouldn't interfere with the women's night off.

Of course, new mother Brenda was constantly worrying about her children.  
"Should I call and see how they're doing?" she asked as she eyed her phone from afar.  
"Honey, your husband is amazing, and he is surrounded by men who are also amazing. The kids are perfectly fine. I just know it" Irma reassured.  
"Still-"  
"Oh my god mom sit back and relax!" Sam teased her sister in law.  
"I thought I was your mom" April teased.  
"You're both my mom. You're secret lesbian lovers and you both raise me behind Jay's back. Although, Casey has been playing an older brother role. Never mind, April you're my older sister and Casey's my brother in law, which means Brenda's my step mom" Sam said through a wide smile.  
"Guess that still makes me grammy" Irma said.  
Each woman had a mixed drink in their hand (though they weren't going to tell the guys that Sam was drinking underage) and they were having a hell of a good time joking and holding conversations they could never have when the guys were around.

"So grammy" Brenda teased, "how are things between you and lover boy?" she asked as she took a sip of her drink.  
"Stopppppp" she said as she gently nudged her daughter. "He's sweet, but he has no idea how I feel."  
"Then tell him" Sam said bluntly.  
"Pshh, you're one to talk" Irma said with her hand on her hip.  
Sam shot the woman a funny yet confused look while she was drinking her own mixed drink.  
"I'm sorry, but what the hell are you talking about?" Sam said, sassily moving her body as she asked her question.  
"Well you haven't told Kris how you feel, so how do you have any right telling me how to handle my love life?" Irma asked with a laugh.  
"Oh Sam doesn't like Kris" April cut in.  
Irma and Brenda both turned towards each other and shot each other evil grins.  
"Oh really?" Brenda asked. "And why not?"  
"Really? We're gonna dip into the dark past that we all already know about?" Sam asked.  
"Man, I shipped the hell out of you two" Irma said, playfully pouting in the corner of the hot tub.  
"Are you sure that's the only reason why you don't like Kris anymore?" Brenda asked.  
"Okay what's happening? And ew stop looking at me like that" Sam said as she saw the weirdly wicked smiles on the two Asian women's faces. She then turned and saw that April had the same smile on her face.  
"Okay you people need to start talking! I'm utterly confused."  
"You like one of the turtle boys" Brenda said bluntly.  
Sam leaned forward awkwardly as if asking 'what the fuck.'  
"I'm sorry, but I think I misheard you. You did not just state that I like one of MY BROTHERS" she emphasized.  
"Oh come on! The way you are with each of them, you have to have a crush on one of them. There's no way you don't at least like one of them!" Irma stated.  
"Wow Irma, tell us how you really feel" Sam said, resting her chin on her hand as her elbow rested on her knee.  
"She's not the only one who thinks that" April said, looking off in the distance as she stirred her straw in her drink.  
"You've gotta be kidding me. Not you to! Come on April you know me and the guys are like family!"  
"Hey I'm not the one you need to convince" April said, biting her lip, knowing that her comment was going to get the teen riled up.  
"Okay. I need reasons. Key details here people. What the hell has happened that I MUST be in love with ONE. OF. MY. BROTHERS" Sam emphasized, throwing her hands out in front of her (in a 'what are those type stance) as she stated each word at the end of her sentence.  
"Well ladies, who would like to go first?" April asked.  
"Meeeee!" Brenda stated as she raised her hand up. "So I think you and Donnie have a connection."  
"How? Just, how?" Sam groaned, sliding down some and leaning her back along the side of the hot tub.  
"Because you two were literally cuddling the other night."  
"What?" Sam asked as she sat up some.  
"He was laying in the hammock and you were literally cuddled up with him. His arm was around you and everything! And you looked very comfortable snuggled up next to him as well. Explain yourself" Irma stated sternly, although it was obvious that she was teasing the younger woman.  
Sam just sat there for a few seconds, speechless.  
"Is…is that not normal?" she asked honestly.  
"NO!" Irma stated.  
"I second that no" Brenda said.  
"But, that's just like, what I do with all of them."  
Now all three women were staring at Sam with wide eyes.  
"What? They're like brothers but they're also just guy friends. Like every once in a while that just happens. They're literally my best friends, I feel comfortable with all of them. They wouldn't do anything inappropriate" Sam said with a genuine and innocent smile.  
"Girl that's not the point! You can't just cuddle with all the guys you know!" Brenda announced.  
"But I only do that with the four of them. It's usually only when I have nightmares, and that's usually because the nightmares are about them."  
"Really? What happens?" Irma asked.  
"Ummmmm I've followed through with killing Raph, I have-"  
Irma then literally spit her drink. "WHAT?! Followed through?! When did you try to kill him?"  
"Remember? When I went all depressed once the turtles learned I was in the Foot? And then Raph when berserk and that made me go hulk times ten on his ass?"  
"Ahhhh right. Continue" Irma waved on.  
"Um, I have nightmares that Raph fights back and hurts me, I have nightmares where the others get revenge because I hurt Raph, I have nightmares where I hurt all of them, things like that. But they're all really understanding whenever they happen. All four of them are just really great supportive guys."  
"Yet you like none of them" Brenda sneered.  
"Nope" Sam said with the click of her tongue. "So that's really the only reason you think I like Donnie?"  
"You tease him a lot" Brenda added.  
"I tease them all a lot."  
"She does" April nodded.  
"What about Raph?" Irma asked. "I'm tied between whether or not you like him or Leo."  
"What the hell how?!" Sam laughed as she slumped back once again.  
"Because he's like, calmer around you. Like obviously now we all know that he's really a good guy, but he's scary when you first meet him. Granted he also knows that and once he gets to know people and once people get to know him in return, he is a sweet and fun guy. But he's like, different with you."  
"Because I'm a cold bitch who will put him in his place. April does the same thing and he respected her way before I came around."  
"That's true to" April said, tilting and nodding her head. "Which is something I'm now just realizing."  
"What?" Sam asked.  
"He treats women respectfully regardless, but he's tougher on women with strength of some sort who aren't afraid of him. Then when those women prove how tough they really are, he changes and respects them quickly. He was kind of nasty with me when I first met the guys on that roof top and snapped their picture. I displayed myself as a woman who wasn't afraid to go snooping to get information for my news reports and he made it clear he didn't like that. If they had saved me from a robber then knowing him he would have reacted to me in a way that was the opposite of how he actually reacted. Like he just wanted to get the heck out of there and leave me there by myself, but once I proved that I cared about them and would fight to help them out, he completely changed."  
"Buttttt that doesn't mean you're in love with him!" Sam said, taking a huge gulp of her drink and placing the empty cup to the side.  
"Dang slow down. Youngest one of us to" Brenda teased.  
"Oh I'm gonna need more than that to get through this conversation. And we're only two brothers in."  
"Leo's turn!" Brenda announced.  
"Go for it. Enlighten me."  
"He's nice to you" Irma said.  
"You say that a lot when you're tipsy" Sam said, the sass emanating from the way she blinked her eyes.  
"But you have to know what I mean! Like he's soft with you."  
"Yeah, like at their birthday dinner last year. He got upset over something and of course after talking with you for a while, he returned, good as new. As if he was never upset in the first place" Brenda added.  
"Gee, sounds like something, I dunno, a sister might do" Sam replied with wide and annoyed eyes.  
"But it happens so often. Oh but that happens with you and Raph to!" Brenda added, her tipsiness adding to her random bursts of excitement.  
"Because they know they can trust me! They each have literally told me that they can confide in each other when they're really upset about something, but minor things they talk to me about. You know, the whole stereotypical thing about guys not talking to guys about their problems unless they're THAT upset about something and it's literally mentally killing them."  
"See it's tough to narrow it down!" Irma exclaimed. "They all talk to you like you're 'one of the guys' and tease you and wrestle and stuff like you're a guy. But then I've heard them be kind and gentle with you as well. They help you when you need it, but they prank you as well. Ughhhh maybe you're just dating all of them" Brenda sighed.  
"Yup. I just love mutants so much that I can't keep my hands off of them" Sam said, throwing her head back and taking another long sip of a wine cooler.  
"Alright, who's gonna tell me why I like Mikey?" Sam asked, beginning to feel tipsy herself. "Oh let me guess, because he's my partner in crime, right? Because he's my best friend and the reason I'm still alive? Literally, since he knew the word to trigger the mutagen to enter my body. Oh! Or because he was the only one that defended me when everyone else turned on me, although that wasn't their fault. I did almost destroy Raph's face. Oh and there's the fact that-"  
"You were holding hands with him when you came back to life" April softly cut in.

Sam froze, staring down at the water in front of her. In the corner of her eye she could see Brenda and Irma pursing their lips as they heard the new information.  
"Well. That one was unexpected" Sam stated bluntly. "I didn't realize anyone had even noticed that" Sam said as she slowly turned her head towards April. "Guess you've been holding onto that information for a while now, huh?" Sam asked.  
April nodded her head. "I was the only one who didn't join the group hug, so I happened to see it from afar. I never said anything because I didn't want to make things awkward…and I was interested to see what resulted afterwards" April said, taking a small sip of her drink.  
"EXPLAIN NOW!" Brenda said with a wide smile.  
"What's to explain? My best friend had saved me for what felt like the millionth time that night! I was happy to be alive and I was grateful for what he had done for me."  
"What were the other ways that he had saved you?" Irma asked, genuinely interested in the details that she did not fully know about.  
"Well…" Sam paused, recollecting everything from what now would have been just under 2 years ago. "He put his trust in me and I was able to prevent Karai from hurting them and then myself as I launched a whip at him but then froze it in time and OH that's also a nightmare! That that tactic failed. Uh, he jumped in front of me when a bunch of purple dragons started shooting at me. He helped me walk to safety when I was standing on a tiny little rail. And then he was the only one who knew how to bring me back to life, and then he had the guts to try and calm me down when the mutagen first entered my body…why are you all looking at me like that?" Sam asked in an annoyed tone.  
"He likes you" Brenda said with menacing eyes.  
"He's my best friend! He cares about me the same way that the others do! They all treat me the same way. I can list examples where I've had emotional talks with all four of them, when I've teased all four of them, when I've argued with all four of them. You all are fighting for details that are not there! Like I could literally ask all four of them to marry me and they would all say no" Sam said, smiling in frustration as she shook her head.  
The other three women were smiling as a tempting idea swirled inside their minds.  
"Why don't we put this to the test then?" April asked.  
"Hm?" Sam asked, raising her brows at the woman.  
"Let's call each of them up here, one at a time, and ask them to marry you. Right here on the spot" April asked.  
"Oh they're never going to let us have a girl's night ever again" Sam groaned.  
"That's a yes!" Brenda cheered as she grabbed her phone from a side table and texted Leo to come to their room.

A couple minutes later, the leader in blue appeared.  
"Everything okay?"  
"Nope" Sam groaned.  
Leo looked confused, and then looked very worried when he saw the look on Brenda's and Irma's faces.  
"Ask the question Samantha" Brenda said in a coy tone.  
"*sigh* Hey Leo let's get married. Like tomorrow. What do you say?" Sam asked.  
Leo narrowed his eyes at the women. "Are you all drunk?"  
"Answer the question" Brenda stated.  
"That's a yes" Sam stated.  
"Okay. So why are exactly are we getting married?"  
"Because I just love you so much. Can't you see that?" Sam said with a very blank, emotionless expression.  
Leo smiled and shook his head.  
"In all due respect, I'd rather not get married. You're not quite my type" Leo stated, a bit of amusement in his voice since he was not expecting to have this conversation ever.  
"Dually noted and youuuu have a type?" Sam asked, her tone changing from annoyed to curious very quickly as she went from avoiding the turtles gaze to looking him straight in the eye and crossing her arms on the side of the hot tub.  
"Have a nice night ladies" Leo said as he smiled and began to walk away.  
"We're having this conversation later!" Sam called after her friend.  
"SEND RAPH!" Irma shouted after him.  
"Oh I will" Leo said. He was very interested to hear from his younger brother after he had his turn dealing with the tipsy bunch.

A couple minutes later, Raph entered the room.  
"Why am I here?" he groaned.  
"Hey Raph!" Sam announced, an annoyed smile displayed on her face. "Wanna get married?"  
"Why?" he asked sourly.  
"Because we're meant to be" Sam said, blinking her eyes.  
"No" he groaned. "Jay know you've been drinking?"  
"They made me do it!" Sam pointed to the women sitting across from her.  
"Cool. Can I go now?"  
"Man! No one wants to marry you Sam. My heart hurts" Brenda said as she pouted and slumped back some.  
"Ahh, so that explains Leo's smirking face. Jerk" Raph mumbled with a frown, annoyed that his brother knew what was in store for him and decided not to tell him a damn thing.  
"So why don't you want to marry Sam, Raph" Brenda asked with a coy smile.  
"Oh here we go" Sam said as she rolled her eyes.  
Raph shrugged. "She's cool, but she's not my type."  
"What the hell?! You have a type to?!" Sam announced, splashing her hands in the water.  
"Heh, we can't tell you everything. Anyway, I'm out. I'll send Donnie" Raph said as he left the room.

"Dude, this sucks! I didn't know they had types! The only one I know has a type is Mikey and that's because he's made his type extremely clear!"  
"So what's his type then?" April asked curiously.  
"Obviously curvy women that are outgoing and wear little to nothing" Sam said with a chuckle.  
"And how do you know this?" April asked, crossing her arms in front of her.  
"Because he's a total flirt. He flirts with you every time he sees you. That's why…" Sam trailed off, realizing she just started a conversation she did not want to have.  
"FINISH. THE. STATEMENT" Brenda demanded.  
Sam pursed her lips. "Do I have to?"  
Brenda calmed herself when she saw how truly uneasy this made Sam feel.  
"No. Of course not. I'm sorry Sam."  
Sam sighed. "Can I trust that you guys will act normal if I tell you?"  
"Of course" Irma said. "What's bothering you."  
"Well…there was this time when I entered the lair and Mikey was flirting it up with April and he was telling you something" she said as she turned towards April "and I could just sense the change in his expression when he saw me and knew that he had to end the conversation so that he could spend time with me, since knowing him, he would have thought it was rude to ignore me and continue to flirt. So, because of that, I purposefully kinda leave the room when I sense he's getting flirty with you so that I don't get in his way. Like he's literally told me that he knows you're like a sister and he would never go overboard and be rude, but he's also teased that it's just in his nature."  
"Why have you never told me this?" April asked, truly upset that Sam had hid this information from her for so long.  
Sam shrugged. "It just wasn't important. I mean I know it's just who he is-"  
"But he did something that upset you. Does he even know?" April asked.  
"No!" Sam responded within a second of the question being asked. "You can't tell ANY OF THEM that I just told you all that! That stays between the four of us. Please don't tell anyone" Sam said.  
This was the first time the women could sense that Sam was really upset with something that had been discussed that night, and they knew that this was something that truly bothered her.  
"We won't tell a soul sweetie. We'll take it to the grave" Brenda said soothingly.  
"But, don't you think he would want to know?" April asked. "I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you."  
Sam sent her a sad smile. "I know he would never mean to hurt me, and knowing him he didn't realize what he did or how I felt when it happened. But I feel like it would make things weird between the two of us, and I don't want him getting any wrong ideas. And I mean he's allowed to be flirty and playful. Who am I to say something that would make him change who he is? That's not fair-"

Sam stopped talking once the door opened. Donnie entered the room very awkwardly.  
"I've been informed this will be an awkward encounter" he stated as he slowly swung his arms back and forth.  
"Yup! We're getting married. That cool with you?" Sam asked bluntly.  
Donnie shook his head in confusion. "I'm sorry, what?"  
"I love you, so love me back!" Sam stated.  
"How drunk are you?" he asked with a laugh.  
"Geez, I ask men to marry me and they all accuse me of being drunk. Such compliments" she said as she stuck her tongue out at him.  
"This isn't a real proposal…right?" he asked.  
"Of course not! These drunk ditz's made me ask" Sam said as she rolled her eyes. "And I swear if you say you have a 'type' that you haven't told me about then I'm going to kick your ass along with your older brothers."  
"Well, I'll sleep with one eye open then" Donnie said with a smile.  
"Motherfucker" Sam mumbled.  
"Is that all the random for the day?" Donnie asked.  
"Yup! Send the baby brother in!" Brenda said.  
Donnie sighed and left the room, feeling more comfortable now that that question was out of the way.

"So back to what you were saying" Brenda stated. "Do you really think it would be that bad if you told him of something that happened once?" she asked.  
"Well, he made that face once…but that's because I've prevented myself from being put in a situation like that again, hehe."  
"Sam…" April started, "is there anything I can do to help?"  
Sam tilted her head to the side. "Help with what?"  
"You know, your crush on Mikey" April stated.  
"No, no-no. There is no crush. Just not wanting to get in a guy friends way. That's all" Sam stated quickly.  
"Sam-"  
"Look, it's not a romantic thing, it's just one of those odd situations that come up when having guy friends. It's happened to me back in the day as kids as well. There's obviously times where the guys are going to talk about how much they like the pretty girls that are the opposite of me, and usually I talk to the guys about it as well because I'm cool like that. I don't mind hearing guys share their feelings about women, and usually I add my input and advice to give to them as well. It's just odd when you're in the way of them flirting. Like, it's one of those things where as the female friend you have to know when to respect the guys needs and feelings and stuff, you know?"  
"Are you sure? You can be honest here sweetie. You have our support" April reassured, with Brenda and Irma nodding in unison to these claims.  
Sam smiled.  
"Thank you. But I swear it's just one of those situations. I know that's who he is and as his best friend I respect those boundaries. Hell, I'd bet money that the first thing he does when he gets here is compliment everyone in some way and he'll come in here all energetic unlike the other three. That's just who he is."

And right on cue, Mikey entered.  
"Wassup ladies? I must say you all look lovely tonight" he said, strutting into the room and sitting on the edge of the tub so that he could place his feet in (he made sure to inform them that his feet were clean before doing so).  
"4th times a charm" Sam mumbled to herself, "Michelangelo, will you marry me?" she asked with literally no emotion as she continued to face the women in the hot tub rather than turn and face the man in the room.  
Mikey sensed this and was confused as to what was happening, but shrugged and answered honestly with an "okay."  
Sam paused. "What?" she asked. She squinted her eyes in confusion, but she was sitting at an angle where as she faced the rest of the women in the hot tub, Mikey couldn't see her expression, so he continued to answer honestly.  
"I mean hey if you're asking, I'm not gonna say no."  
"Explain!" Brenda stated, crossing her arms.  
'Heh, women are interesting when they're tipsy in packs' Mikey thought to himself.  
"Well" he began, "Sam and I have a lot of similar interests. She actually listens to me unlike my brothers" he said as he rolled his eyes. "Sam trusts me, she knows I'm not actually a ditz…yeah I'd pull a Phoebe and Joey and marry her in the future. But I'm confused as to why I'm being asked this when Sam can date literally anyone."  
"Okay first, what does Phoebe and Joey mean?" April asked.  
"Okay so there's this episode of Friends where they talk about how if they reach a certain age and they're not married then Phoebe and Joey would get married…oh right she said she would marry Ross to" he said, looking upwards as he tried to remember how the episode played out.  
"What do you mean I can date literally anyone?" Sam cut in rather harshly, now turning towards Mikey as she spoke.  
"Ugh, we have to have this conversation again?" he groaned. "You're obviously pretty Sam. Tomboy's have attractive qualities to. Have some confidence in yourself" he said as he turned to leave the room.  
"Well, I hope you all continue to have a fun night ladies" he said with a wink, "I'm gonna head back down to the dance party we were holding downstairs."  
He then shut the door behind him and the room grew silent.

"We have a winner" Brenda whispered into her glass.  
"You okay?" April asked in concern.  
Sam chuckled. "I'd also bet money that he thinks all his brothers answered that question in a similar way that he just did. If he knew his brothers answered differently, then he wouldn't have said what he just did.  
"But he spoke honestly and he said yes" Irma said softly. "Are you okay with that?"  
"He's a flirt, so that literally meant nothing. Am I allowed to explain to them later why we asked them that question?" Sam asked.  
The women nodded. It was only fair that the boys knew why they had just been teased the way they had been.  
"SO let's talk about Casey Jones" Sam said, hoping that the conversation would leave her and that the spotlight would move onto anyone else. Especially since she wasn't sure what she would say if she was to continue on with the interrogation.

'Why the hell did he say yes?' Sam thought to herself. 'He doesn't like women like me! I don't wear booty shorts, I don't have big boobs, I don't wear make-up. He's never been attracted to me and he only said that to be nice. He's never complimented my looks before. The guys probably told him what we were going to ask him. That has to be it! This was his way of getting back at me for allowing us to get at him! Well, in that case his surprise answer was definitely a shock and I deserved it. I'll have to make sure I apologize to him later today' she thought.

And that's exactly what she did. Later that night/into the early morning, the turtles were enjoying the sauna on the second floor for the last time since later that evening they would be heading home. This was when Sam joined the guys and informed them of the tipsy women that insisted she must be in love with one of them, hence having to ask each of them about marriage.  
"Well, twas an interesting experience" Donnie teased. "Hopefully none of us offended or upset you" he said, a look of guilt on his face.  
Sam clapped her hands together. "What?" she asked.  
"Well I'm sure we all answered the same way" Raph stated. "You know we all care about you, but I can't imagine any of us saying yes. No offense or anything" he said, also now feeling a little guilty because of how he responded earlier.  
Sam could sense Mikey looking away in a panic, now realizing he was the only idiot that said yes.  
Sam smiled. "Guys, I knew each of you was going to say no. In all due respect, I would have responded the same way if I was randomly asked the same question. I've told you all before that you have attractive qualities, but that doesn't mean I want to marry any of you."  
"So you're sure you're not upset about anything?" Leo asked.  
"Swear on my life I'm fine" she said.  
The three older brothers sighed in relief.  
"Well if that's all settled then, I'm gonna head up" Leo said as he stood up and got out of the water.  
"Same" Raph said rolling his shoulders.  
"You staying?" Donnie asked.  
Sam nodded. "I don't relax like this often, so I'm gonna stay a little bit longer."  
"Same" Mikey stated smoothly. "Besides, two people means the other can't fall asleep."  
"Good call" Sam said with a nod.  
"Alright, see you both in the morning then" Leo said, and the three brothers exited the room, leaving Sam and Mikey alone in the sauna together.

"Uh, hehe, thanks for lying for me back there" Mikey said, rubbing the back of his head as he looked down at the water.  
Sam smiled. "Of course, you know I always have your back. Plus, I know it was random and on the spot which I'm sure played into your answer" she said as she nudged his arm.  
"What do you mean?" he asked.  
"Well if you knew what your brothers had said then I know you wouldn't have responded the way you did. You were just being nice because that's the kind of guy you are. I know you would never intentionally do anything to hurt me, so I know you said yes because you would have felt bad to turn me down so suddenly. If you had time to think about what was asked then I know you would have responded in a different way" she said with a genuine and reassuring smile.  
"Yeah of course" he stated, "I just didn't want to offend you or anything. I wasn't lying about the pretty part though, you do need to be more self-confident" he stated, trying to make the girl laugh and help her maintain this comfortable aura between the two of them.  
"Thanks, and I know. Ugh this got hotter way faster than I thought" Sam groaned.  
"Wait, what?" Mikey asked nervously.  
"The sauna. I know it's supposed to hot, but this is getting unbearable. Wanna head over to the indoor pool instead? The water is nice and warm since it's indoors" she stated. "Race you to the slide" she said with a wicked grin.  
"It's ON!" Mikey shouted as he leapt up from his seat and dashed towards the door.

The two then spent the rest of the early morning swimming in the pool, teasing each other and talking as if the awkward situation had never happened.  
And that's how it would stay for a while, since this situation made it clear that neither of the two was interested in the other.  
The other three women, however, weren't so sure that nothing was there, but they promised to keep everything witnessed and heard in that room that night a secret, and decided that they too would 'play ninja' and observe what would unfold from the shadows.


	53. Chapter 53

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

 ****Chapter #53

 ***Monday April 25** **th** **, 2016. Outside the Blair University***

 ****Sam pushed open the door, well, barely managed to get herself through the tiny crack she was able to make when pushing the door with her shoulder.  
She was about to keep walking, but then she groaned.  
"Ughhhhh I have to wait. Leo's late" she said as she collapsed onto a nearby bench.

Sam was exhausted and just wanted to walk herself home, but she knew she would never hear the end of it if she did that.  
She was almost done her first year of college, and this current semester was so close to the end that she could feel it, but with all the work she needed to complete for 5 classes and then adding dance rehearsals and soccer practices on top of that, she was barely ever sleeping.  
She refused to say this to anyone though. She didn't want anyone freaking about her health or safety or whatever, so she would secretly walk home from the campus library or from rehearsals and practices all by herself.  
She had been doing this since her first month from her first semester and everything had been fine, but then there was one night where some douchebag jocks decided to change that.

Sam had left the one of the dorm buildings after working with a few other classmates on an upcoming project at the time, and a few jocks decided they were going to mess with her and try to convince her to go back with them to their dorm.  
Of course, Sam was ready to kick their asses, but she also couldn't use her powers and reveal her abilities to these guys, so she could only fight with her regular hand to hand combat skills. She also left her tonfa at home because…well honestly she was so involved with daily things that she was completely forgetting to sneak them around with her. It wasn't her best moment, and while she was able to hold her own, she got bruised up a bit.  
Things would have been fine, she knew how to use concealer to cover up some cuts and bruises…but then one of the jocks, being flat out drunk, grabbed a baseball bat and whacked her knee and made her collapse. When she tried to get up, she was punched in the face.  
There must have been a greater power watching over her that night because when she woke up, not only did she realize that she had a bloody nose, but she realized that there were four mutant turtles tying up the group of 7 jocks writing 'rapist' and 'predator' on their foreheads in Sharpie.  
While Sam was eternally grateful for their help, she knew then and there that she was figuratively fucked.

Of course, being the concerned brothers they were, they informed Jay immediately and all 5 had a talk with her where they learned that she had been walking home by herself multiple different times throughout her college experience.  
Well, that was never going to happen ever again. So they made it very clear to Sam that if she stayed out at a time where the sun had gone down, she MUST walk home with one of the turtles. Of course, if she walked home with a group or another guy friend, that was fine, but if not, then she needed to contact the guys.  
Overall she didn't mind this, especially since she almost never saw them anymore. She texted each of them throughout the weeks, but it could be hours or even days before she was able to reply back because of how busy she was. Moments like this made her wish to a certain extent that she could escape the real world and just live underground with them all the time. It would be much easier and she would much rather be scouting for criminals and the Foot than completing tests and writing papers.  
Honestly, if it wasn't for soccer and dance then she probably wouldn't even be in college. She was interested in a vast variety of topics, but nothing that she wanted to dedicate the rest of her life towards. Knowing this, she didn't have any objections about having to walk home with one of the guys. Sometimes they came in groups, but usually they would walk her home one on one so that they could actually spend some quality time with their sister. Of course, this meant that it took even longer for them to see her since she didn't need an escort home every night, but it had become a fun occasion that each of the brothers was always looking forward to.

There were some annoying parts of the deal though, tonight's dilemma being one of them.  
Sam was dead tired and honestly could fall asleep on the bench she was on right now…which now made her realize that she was laying down and not sitting up.  
She quickly sat up and then grabbed the sides of her head. Sitting up that fast from embarrassment was making her head spin and see stars. Now she felt like her body was shaking…wait…something was shaking.  
Sam began patting different parts of her body as she searched for her phone and then found it in a jacket pocket.  
"Huh?" she said dully and emotionless as she answered the phone.  
 _"Hey. I'm at the spot. Walk down the street some. I'll be in the alley way"_ Leo stated through the phone.  
"Uh-huh" Sam said, nodding as if Leo could actually see her.  
She then stood up and began to walk down the stairs…and the quickly regretted that as she stumbled and held onto the railing for dear life as she carefully dragged her feet down the stairs, never actually lifting them from the ground because she knew that would make her trip and fall on her face.  
After what felt like forever, she finally reached the meeting spot where Leo was hiding in the shadows. Well, Sam thought he was in the shadows and started calling out to no one.  
Leo then jumped down behind her and made Sam jump and stumble, luckily being caught by Leo himself before Sam fell.  
"What is wrong with you?" he asked, confused and concerned.  
"You, you weren't over there?" Sam said, pointing and turning multiple times to the shadows where she assumed Leo was hiding.  
Leo shook his head and smirked.  
"Man you need to get home and sleep."  
"Noooooo I need to study for my test in two days. I don't have time to study before the test because I have rehearsals on the same day and then I have a paper to write that I haven't even started and then I have a game tomorrow night" Sam groaned, as she then fell forward, without realizing she was falling at all.  
Leo caught her and then gently pushed her back so that she was standing up straight again.  
"Man you touch people a lot, like whoa" Sam mumbled.  
"Oh you're one to talk" Leo said with eyes wide as he turned around. "Come on, you're gonna hurt yourself if you walk home" he said.  
"Ughhhh I don't wanna jump! Too much work!"  
Leo sighed as he then crouched down lower.  
"Oh much better" Sam said as she climbed onto Leo's back.  
"Hold on tight" he said.

He then removed a nearby manhole cover and climbed down the ladder. He continued to carry Sam until eventually she had a little bit more energy and insisted that she walk home.  
"So how have trainings been? Since I never even get to train anymore" she pouted.  
"They're good. Renet apparently insists on watching us train as much as she possibly can now and is pretty much in the lair with us every free moment she gets on the weekends" he said with a chuckle.  
"Does she actually do anything?" Sam asked.  
"Of course not. The kid will be 5 this Thursday, we wouldn't let her do anything dangerous like that even if her parents gave her permission."  
"She still did workouts with Raph though, right?"  
"Oh yeah" he said putting his hands behind his head. "She's taking that seriously according to her parents."  
"Kids got grit, you gotta give her that" Sam laughed. "When was the last time you saw the baby?"  
"Hmmmm it's been a couple weeks now. Every once in a while Jay and Brenda ask if we can help babysit and of course we say yes. Without Shredder and his crew around the crime has definitely gone down, so we have a bit more free time."  
"Oh only a bit?" Sam questioned as a means to tease.  
"Well crime doesn't just disappear, especially since there are gangs that are beginning to surface since they think territories are open since Shredder is gone."  
Sam nodded and pursed her lips. "So Donnie hasn't discovered anything in relation to anyone's whereabouts?"  
Leo looked down as he shook his head. "He's been searching for any hint of what Karai or Hun have been up to. He's wondering if they escaped and went back to Japan. If that's the case then he thinks there's an even higher chance that more gangs are going to start appearing since there won't be anyone around to put them in their place. So we haven't had to fight as much as we used to, but there are still moments where he's able to track criminal activity and we've been able to stop it before it gets too serious. Of course chief Vincent is loving us for that" he joked.  
"So she and the cops aren't getting frustrated that you guys are owning them by doing their job?" she asked.  
Leo tensed up some. "Casey said there's been some talk from officers who don't know we exist and they're getting frustrated. But the officers that saw us have been quiet because they understand who we are and what we're doing."  
"That's good…you guys will update if you hear anything about Karai or Hun, or whatever…right?" she asked nervously.  
Leo paused as the two continued to walk. "Yes" he then finally said in a higher voice.  
Sam stopped and threw her hands down at her sides. "DUDE! That's not fair!"  
"What? I said yes" Leo said as he then turned away rather quickly.  
"Yeah, in the most obvious 'we're not going to tell you a damn thing' way" she argued.  
"Well what did you expect? You're in college, you're working towards your future. What are you going to do if Karai just shows up when you're in the middle of taking a test?"  
"Leave!" Sam announced bluntly. "Obviously stopping someone from taking over the world is much more important" she said, jogging so she could now catch up with Leo.

"Sam-"  
"You seriously won't keep me updated?" she said, a hurt look displayed on her face.  
"You know we'll always provide you with information to keep you safe" Leo said somberly, knowing that wasn't what his friend wanted to hear.  
"But you won't tell me anything in regards to keeping others safe and taking down the serious criminals" she said as she turned and began to walk ahead of him.  
"Are you really getting upset about this? You know you're different from us-"  
"I'm a mutant now to" she said as she swiftly turned back around.  
"Yeah, one with a chance at a life up top. There's a lot of things you have the opportunity to do and I dare you to tell me that that's not what you want" he said sternly.  
"But…fighting with you guys is part of my life, a huge part of my life" she said softly.  
"There will be time for you to fight with us, and if something huge happens then we're going to need you. But until something huge like Kraang or Shredder returning happens, then you need to focus on you. Your life. You future" he said as he put his hand on her shoulder. He looked at her in straight in the eyes as she now tilted her head up. "We're not going anywhere" he said sincerely. "You'll always know where to find us. Fighting with us is always going to be a part of your life, but for you it just can't be every second of your day" he said with a sincere smile.  
Sam couldn't help but smile herself.  
"I just miss…fighting, in a weird way. Which is probably horrible to say" she said, turning her head away from Leo in embarrassment.  
"It's not" he reassured, "your life has been flipped upside down and in every direction possible because of crime and violence. I'm sure it's weird moving on from that and acting like life is normal when you're sitting in a lecture hall with tons of other people that are texting and gossiping."  
"Hmph, it's like you read my mind. Typical for a Jay junior" she teased.  
"That's what brothers do" he said as he threw his arm around her and pulled her down some, as if starting to fight. "Can we go home now?" he asked.  
"Awwww you hate serious talks so much, don't you?" Sam asked in a baby-like voice.  
"Ahh you know how to ruin moments" he teased as he then let her stand back up, just to nudge her out of his way.  
The two continued to bicker and tease all the way until Leo walked Sam back up to her room.  
"Now sleep!" Leo demanded.  
"Heh, not even Jay could make me sleep at a reasonable hour" she said with an evil grin.  
"I will literally spend the night here and will make your life miserable until you sleep" he said with a straight face.  
Sam sighed. "You really mean that, don't you?" she groaned.  
"You bet" he said with a fake smile.  
"Fine!" she said "I guess I'll shower and go to sleep. You know, unless you want to stay and watch that as well since you want to spend the night here so much" she said with a cocky smile as she crossed her arms and leaned against the side of her window frame.  
"If that's what it takes" he said, tilting his head and holding his arms out to the side of him.  
"Well you've grown comfortable" Sam scoffed.  
Leo tilted his head some more. "What?"  
"You used to low-key freak out or like shudder when I made comments like that. Now you're like Raph and Mikey and just roll with it."  
Leo paused for a moment, reminiscing on past times when Sam was still a new part of their life and when she would make comments like this. Did he really react that way?  
"You don't remember reacting that way ever, do you?" she asked.  
He shrugged. "Honestly, no. I mean, we've had so many conversations in the past two years now since it officially has been 2 years and a week today since we all met you."  
"Wow, down to the dot since the time we all punched each other. What a greeting" she said with a laugh.  
"Well Mikey made it clear on the 18th that it had been two years. Man, we were 15 when we met you, we really are strong for putting up with you for so long" he said in playful arrogance.  
"Oh shut up. You all love me! That's why you all stayed in my apartment until 4 a.m. and risked being seen so that you could see me on my birthday a few weeks ago on the 4th."  
"Yeah, I guess you're pretty important. Still sucked we couldn't see you on the 18th though" he said as he pursed his lips.  
Sam displayed the same expression as she looked down. "Yeah. I know. One day college will be over and I can go back to seeing you guys all the time…or I could just drop ou-"  
"Not a chance" Leo said with a glare.  
"Okay, okay" Sam said with her hands up.  
"You're worth waiting for Sam. Like I said, we're not going anywhere. Once you're free for summer break then things will be the same again" Leo reassured.  
"Yeah, but I'm also the most impatient person you've ever met" she said with an apologetic smile.  
"Well, you are older than us. So be the mature 18 year old you should be" he said as he now stood up from the ledge he had been sitting on. "Well, I can tell by the color of your eyes that you're officially getting tired, so I'm gonna head down" Leo said.  
"Wait" Sam called after him as she quickly climbed through her window and then threw her arms around the turtle in blue.  
Leo hugged the girl back, but he couldn't smile while doing so and neither could she. Both knowing that it would probably be a good while before the two saw each other again.  
"Contact us if you ever need anything" he reassured softly.  
"Same with you guys" she said.  
"You better ace your test on Thursday or I'm gonna kick your ass" Leo stated, trying to end the mini reunion on a good note and with a laugh, which he succeeded in gaining.  
"Deal" Sam said as she pulled back and headed into her room. She smiled as she looked through the glass of the window and then shut the curtains, the signal that she was safe and that Leo could officially leave.

The two parted ways, not knowing when they would officially get to see each other again.

 ***Tuesday April 26** **th** **, 2016. 2a.m. in the morning***

 ****Raph hid on top of the balcony, growing more and more annoyed. He had received a text from Kris that he had a few friends who had gotten ridiculously drunk and that he was going to take an Uber with them back to their (the friend's) place to make sure they got home safe. The men's and women's soccer teams for Blair had won against a usually very tough opponent from a rival college, so of course people on both teams and also throughout the university were partying like crazy. Sam had attended this party, convinced by the ladies on her team who encouraged her to go. She decided to go when she knew that people she could trust like Kris would be there, but right now she was drunk out of her mind and had no idea that he was not even still in the building. While Sam loved her teammates, some of them definitely were not the most trustworthy and were a little to hardcore and dangerous in the way they liked to party.  
Knowing this, Kris contacted the guys to let them know of Sam's whereabouts so that they could keep an eye on her. Tonight was Raph's turn to see her so he offered to go, but at the time he didn't realize that meant he would be waiting outside for Sam to leave for hours.

"God this is so annoying" he groaned as she crunched a hand weight in his hand.  
He had been watching from a nearby building so that he could see into the windows and track where Sam was while she was at the party…but after turning away for just a second, he had lost her.  
"Ah, shit" he mumbled as he scanned all the available space of the rooms that was made visible from his position.  
He then looked down below as he saw a woman walk out of the building crying, and his eyes went wide when he saw the woman heading towards a still very busy street even with it being so early in the morning.  
He quickly leapt off the side of the building and then swung himself from the rail outside the window of an apartment and launched himself behind the darker side of a light post where he then launched a bladeless chain sickle that wrapped around the woman and then pulled her back towards a dark alley and as far away from the street as possible.  
Raph sighed a huge sigh of relief after hearing the woman groan, showing that she would be soar and winded, but she would be okay.

He then leapt down and slowly walked over towards where the woman was now laying on her back. He then saw two blue lights begin to glow.  
At first he was very confused, but as he walked closer, the wheel in his head began to turn.  
"Oh come on. Sam?" he asked.  
The lights were now facing him. "How do you know me?" she asked in furry.  
"It's me you idiot" he groaned aloud.  
Sam then stumbled to stand up as she quickly walked up to the turtle and stood eye to eye with him, way too close to his face for Raph's comfort.  
She then took a step back as the blue light faded from her eyes.  
"RAPHHHHH!" Sam shouted as she threw her hands up.  
"Jesus keep quiet" he angrily whispered as he covered her mouth with his hand. "Man you're wasted, aren't you?"  
"Raphhhhh, Kris left without me" Sam whined. "Like, what? What kind of friend does that? You would never do that to me, right?" she said as she slumped against him.  
"Never" he groaned as he picked the girl up and threw her over his shoulder.  
"Whooaaaaa when did you get so strong?" she asked in amazement.  
"When you got so annoying" he mumbled.  
"You have to talk louder! I can't hear you!" she shouted, her lips literally an inch away from the side of his head. Her strength powers kicking in at random moments and making it difficult for Raph to keep a decently comfortable distance between the two of them.  
"Sewer route it is" he said to himself. He was going to walk along some darker streets, but with Sam shouting the way she was then he knew he needed to travel underground where it wouldn't be easy for people to visually spot the shouting voice.

Drunk Sam was definitely…interesting.  
For one, she never shut up. She was talking about her family, then about her friends from the Foot that she still saw throughout each week while she was in college. She talked about how there were 3 women in particular that she had grown close to that weren't in the Foot but were related to friends of hers that were. She talked about soccer and dance and fearing she would fail all her classes even though she busted ass to pass them all the time.  
"Man you talk a lot" he huffed.  
He then turned to her, realizing that for five seconds she had actually remained silent. That's when his eyes went wide as he saw the girl start to cry.  
"You hate me" she said as she began sobbing.  
"Aw man" Raph said, tilting his head back. He had never really dealt with drunk people. Now that he was friends with Casey, he and Mikey had had a few experiences where they gotten a taste of alcohol, but none of them ever got flat out drunk, just a little bit tipsy at times (of course Leo and Donnie never knew about any of this). Because of this, he had no idea how he should act around a drunk person, especially since Casey said that there were different types of drunks.

'Why couldn't she be a sleepy drunk? That would make this much easier' he thought to himself.  
He then realized Sam was beginning to storm off down a tunnel that the group didn't use.  
"Whoa hold up" he said as he went to grab her arm, something a sober Sam wouldn't mind. A drunk Sam however went from sobbing to furious.  
"Don't touch me! Who do you think you are?!" she said as she started slapping his arm.  
Raph was trying not to laugh now. This fighting style was…pretty pathetic. Obviously her powers had shut off for now and Sam was just being, well, an interestingly uncoordinated drunk being. It was comical until Sam's eyes started turning blue and Raph realized that she might start using her powers again, and without restraint.  
"Whoa okay, okay calm down!" he said. "Ughhh, Jay sent me!" he said, trying to get her to calm down.  
"Oh he did? My bad man!" Sam said, her eyes returning to normal in mere seconds.  
"Do you work with him or something?" Sam asked, her eyes dazed and glossy.  
"Yeah. I've been a voice actor in a few different commercials with him. We're also stunt double buddies."  
"Ohhhh were you on The Walking Dead to?! He was the stunt double for Glenn!" Sam announced as she now was following Raph who had tested to see if the loopy woman would follow him if he began to walk away. He never expected he would have to use babysitting tactics on a grown woman.  
"Yeah. But I was a walker stunt double" Raph replied.  
"Oh! Here's my walker audition. Tell me what you think" Sam said as she then started dragging her leg and reaching her arms out and sneering and moaning 'like a zombie.'  
"Oh that's a real winning performance right there" Raph reassured. And this was pretty much the rest of the walk home.

Finally they reached the manhole cover that was in the alleyway right outside her apartment where Raph then offered to carry Sam up to her apartment because she had done such a great job acting all the way home.  
He contacted Donnie as to how to undo the alarms and within a few minutes Raph helped Sam climb through the window and into the room.  
"You hungry or anything?" Raph asked, knowing that Casey sometimes would get the munchies from drinking. That and also learning that it wasn't good to not have any water or food in your stomach when drinking.  
"The opposite actually" Sam said as she began to hold onto her stomach.  
"Ahh come one, come on" he said as he carefully held onto her, one hand on her back and the other on her shoulder, and rushed her to the bathroom where she threw up in the toilet.  
Raph rubbed a hand on her back while Sam sat there for a few more minutes.  
"My stomach is empty now" Sam whispered.  
"Lovely" Raph said, trying not to be too sarcastic and upset the girl again.  
"My breath stinks" Sam said bluntly.  
"Got mouthwash?"  
"Bottom cabinet…do I live here?" Sam asked as she then quickly started turning and looking around the room while she was sitting on the floor.  
"Yeah you live here. Here's the mouthwash. DON'T swallow it!" Raph said as he began to hand her the bottle and then quickly pulled it back.  
"Why? It's alcohol. See. Al-ca-ma-hol" Sam said as she pointed to the word on the bottle.  
"Because you've had a lot of that today. You'll get sick if you drink anymore" Raph said in a mocking tone.  
Of course, being drunk, Sam stared at him with wide eyes as if he was a genius.  
"You're smart. I like that" she said as she took a huge swig from the bottle and then spit it into the toilet.  
Sam then looked confused. "This isn't the sink" she said.  
"Alright to the kitchen" Raph said as he helped the woman stand on her feet and helped her walk into the other room.  
"Whoaaaa! Look at all this food!" Sam exclaimed as she looked in the fridge.  
"Yeahhhhh, you're not eating that. Let's make you some soup" he said as he guided her to sit down at the breakfast bar in the kitchen.  
"I like soup!" Sam said as she rose her hand as if waiting to be called on.  
"Wow you are so lucky, I have one can left with your name on it" he said dully.  
"WHAT?! How does the cashier know my name?!" Sam shouted as she threw her hands over head and buried her face into the table.  
"It's an expression Sam. You're safe."  
Sam peeked her eyes up from her hands. "Are you my boyfriend?"  
"Hell no" Raph said a little too quickly and aggressively.  
Sam then stood up from the table. "Then like, why are you here?" she said as she leaned onto the table so that her stomach was at the edge but her face was still flat on the tables surface.  
"Because I'm your brother. What the hell are you doing?" he said as he turned around to check and make sure she wasn't doing anything dangerous, or anything too stupid.  
"It's more comfortable this way" she whispered in a deep tone.  
"Whatever you say" he mumbled as he took the soup out of the microwave and then let it sit because it was still too hot.  
"Why are you half naked?" she asked as she was now sitting on the table.  
"Because I have this" he said as he pointed to his shell.  
"That's a big back pack" Sam said as she squinted her eyes and nodded.  
"Not a backpack" he groaned.  
"Are you sure you're my brother?" she asked as she stood up and started walking over towards the couch.  
"Yes Sam. I'm sure" he said as he placed an ice cube from the freezer into the cup with the soup.  
"Then why did I ask you to marry me?" Sam asked.  
Raph's eyes went wide.  
"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked as he turned around and saw that she was lying upside down on the couch.  
"Hehe whoaaaa it's like I'm in that other Dimension. What's it called again?" she asked herself.

"*Sigh* sit up and eat you dork" Raph said as he walked over with a towel and the cup of soup.  
Sam awkwardly flipped herself over and now sat criss cross on the couch with her hands extended in front of her as if she was a child.  
While Sam giddily ate her soup, Raph dragged his hand down his face as he watched some t.v. It was silent for a while until drunk Sam had an epiphany.  
"OH MY GOD THERE'S MORE OF YOU!" she shouted, pointing at him with her spoon in hand, so a few drops landed on Raph's face.  
He just stared blankly at her, but a sober person would be able to sense the annoyance radiating from him.  
"Yes Sam. I have three brothers."  
"Heh, no you don't. You only have two more. Blue and Purple" she said as she continued to eat, staring at her food while she spoke.  
"No Sam there's a third" he said as he directed his attention back to the television.  
"That can't be right. My brothers would all say no if I asked them to marry me. But Orange said yes. So he can't be my brother. That wouldn't make any sense" she said as she started hysterically laughing. "This soup is so damn good!" she said as she started kicking her feet like a little kid. "Can I have more?" she said as she hopped over and held the bowl in front of the turtles face.  
Being in her ditzy state, she had no idea that Raph was frozen solid at what he had just heard the girl say.  
'Mikey said yes?' he thought to himself. 'But…why? He sees her the same way the rest of us do, doesn't he? Has he been lying? What the hell?'  
Because Raph had grown distracted he hadn't realized that Sam was now climbing on top a counter top to reach for something on a higher shelf.  
Raph dashed over to stand behind her as she reached for some chips on a top shelf.  
"Man these are my favorite!" Sam announced. She then turned around and literally walked straight off the counter, obviously not realizing where she was.  
Raph was just happy he had been standing right behind her to catch her in time.  
"Thanks bro" Sam said as she continuously pat the turtle on the cheek.  
"Sam, what do you mean Orange was the only one that said yes?" Raph asked.  
"He said he would marry me years in the future if I was still single, like Phoebe and Joey in Friends" Sam said as she was now shoveling chips into her mouth.  
Raph nodded his head and then walked Sam back over towards the couch. Sam then collapsed and leaned back into the couch as she continued to eat the chips.

Raph was just shocked. He never thought that any of his brothers would EVER consider dating Sam. She was obviously pretty and she had cute qualities, they all knew that. She had a lot of admirable qualities. He didn't want to think that the only reason he wouldn't want to be with her was because she was a tomboy, but…he just saw her as nothing more than a younger sister. Then again, why didn't he see her as an older sister? She was older than them, was that because she didn't dress or 'look' like an older woman? She dressed completely different from the way April did. April was the one that the four found gorgeous but knew she was family and would never do anything weird because of that. Also, she was, again, like a mother-sister figure to all of them, so any relationship with her would be extremely strange and awkward. Plus she was older than them, not like old lady old, but obviously way older than Sam was. Raph then had a wtf moment and wondered why the hell he was thinking of all of this in the first place.

Then, he got sneaky, and he decided to pry.  
"Hey Sam."  
"Hmmm?" she asked.  
"What do you think about Orange?" he asked as he stared at her, calmly yet curiously.  
"Ugh I hate oranges" she groaned.  
"No, not the fruit, Orange. Mikey" he reassured.  
"Ohhhh my best friend! I love him man!" Sam said with a huge smile.  
"How do you love him?" Raph asked.  
"Umm, like a best friend, duh?" Sam said with a giggle.  
"Do you want to date him?"  
"No…do you?" she asked and whispered as she now faced Raph with a curious and raised brow.  
"No!" Raph shouted.  
"Then why would I want to?" she asked, taken aback and confused.  
"Because he's not your brother!"  
"He's not?" Sam said, tilting her head.  
"I mean, he's like your brother. But he's not literally your brother, he's literally my brother though."  
"Awwww that sucks. You're in love with your brother" Sam said as she started crying.  
"Wait what?!" Raph said with a disgusted face.  
"It's like when Oedipus fell in love with his mom! Forbidden love!" Sam cried as she then leaped over and hugged Raph.  
"Forbidden love is Romeo and Juliet and why am I even trying to converse with you?" Raph said with a sigh.  
'Well this obviously got me nowhere' Raph thought to himself. The next thing he knew, the hysterically sobbing Sam was now out cold.  
Raph scoffed and smiled as he shook his head.  
"Wow, you cried yourself to sleep. You are very interesting when you are drunk" he said as he scooped her up and then carried her off to her room. He placed her down in her bed, making sure to place her on her side in case she threw up in her sleep.  
He then walked back into the living room and cleaned up the soup cup and spoon, washed them, and then dried them as he put them back in their place. He also clipped the chip bag and placed that back where it belonged.  
As he was putting things back where they belonged, he looked out of the corner of his eye when he heard a creaking sound.  
He then turned his head to see Sam walk into the room…with her sweatshirt halfway off her body and her bra (which was not a sports bra, but luckily a comfy bra that revealed no cleavage) exposed.  
Raph quickly turned away. 'Man I did not sign up for this shit tonight' he thought to himself.  
"I'm stuck" Sam mumbled.  
Raph sighed as he then turned around and walked towards Sam with his eyes glued to the ceiling. He carefully reached his hands out and helped her maneuver her way through the arms of the sweatshirt so that it was now on her.  
"Thanks red!" she said with a beaming smile.  
"Yup" he said as he then quickly turned around. He then peeked back at Sam and was shocked to see how upset she now looked.  
"What's wrong with you now?" he asked rather harshly.  
"You took away my soup-"  
"You ate it!" he bellowed. Seeing his sister practically shirtless was the tipping point in this being a pretty fucked up night.  
"Now you're yelling at me" Sam said as she began fidgeting with her fingers.  
Raph closed his eyes and tried to calm himself.  
"I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm just flustered."  
"Because you saw my boobs?" Sam stated bluntly.  
"Yes Sam. Because I saw…that" he said.  
"Am I that ugly?" she asked softly.  
Raph was then taken aback.  
"I'm sorry, what?"  
"I mean I knew you wouldn't do anything, that's why I trusted you to help me get unstuck…but am I that ugly?"  
"Why does me not wanting to see my sister that way make you ugly?"  
"Don't guys like boobs?"  
"When they're not their sisters!" Raph exclaimed, wondering how the hell he reached this point of the conversation.  
"They just like pretty boobs."  
Raph felt had a strong feeling he was going to regret what he was about to say.  
"Your boobs are pretty Sam."  
"Now you're lying to me" she said as she crossed her arms and plopped down and sat criss cross right on the spot.  
Raph crouched down so that he was back to being at eye level with her.  
"Sam. Why do you think you're ugly?"  
"No one looks at me or compliments me. I'm just a guy. Like, I wanna be one of the guys, but I wanna be a woman" she said in a risqué voice. "But everyone only sees me as a guy. I should get a sex change" she said as she pouted and titled her head so that her cheek could rest in her palm.

Raph just sat there for a minute. Was this just drunk Sam being drunk, or in being drunk was Sam sharing thoughts that she had buried within her?  
"Sam, you're obviously pretty-"  
"Yeah when I'm coated in make-up and in heels. You saw me as a bridesmaid so NOW you can think of that when you say I'm pretty. Everyone can."  
"Well, you're pretty when you wear your soccer uniform" Raph stated genuinely.  
Sam then shot him a strange look as a means to question his statement.  
"Not everyone can rock a uniform the way you do" he said playfully. "Besides, no amount of make-up can emphasize your smile."  
"Psh, now you just sound like Orange. He says that all the time" she said as she rolled her eyes.

Raph was thrown off once again. Mikey said this shit? He wasn't lying when he said all this to her, but the only reason he was saying it was because it was obviously bothering her, or at least it was bothering her while she was drunk. But, Mikey said this when she was sober? Why? Then again Mikey was a flirt all the time…but these are things he would say to April, so why would he say them to Sam? What the hell was happening?  
He then realized Sam was beginning to fall backwards. Raph lunged forward and grabbed the neck of her sweatshirt and pulled her back forward where he saw that her eyes were closed and her mouth hung open.  
"Looks like you're out for good this time. And thank god for that" Raph mumbled as he once again scooped the girl up and carried her back to her bedroom.

He loved Sam as a sister, but nothing more than that, he could swear on his life that that was the truth. He had only said what he had tonight because it was clear that Sam had some inner demons about who she was. He was shocked to hear all this come from her. She had always been so confident in herself and never cared what others thought. She was going to dress and act in a way that made her happy, and he always assumed that she was, but if her drunken spiel was true, then there was much more negativity and sadness in her mind than any of him or his brothers had any idea about. He decided he would only talk to April about everything that was discussed tonight, she was someone they could all trust. But…then there was also what Sam had said about Mikey. Was this Mikey just being an idiot? Maybe he had said those things to be kind to Sam, just like how Leo and Donnie had begun to feel guilty after bluntly saying no when Sam asked about marriage. But, why would he hide his response from them then if it was just him being kind to his best friend? And that was the thing, Sam acted the same way around Mikey that she did with the rest of the brothers, so maybe this was nothing to get worried about. This part of the night he decided he would keep to himself. He just had no idea what was even the truth since Sam had said some loopy shit throughout the night. For all he knew, Sam could have made up the entire story about Mikey even saying yes!

Raph watched over Sam and after she had stayed asleep for a solid 20 minutes, he decided to take his leave. He left a note on her bedside table about what to do when she woke up. He already laid out clean clothes for her, set her alarms, prepared food for her to heat up during breakfast. Yup, he never thought his babysitting experiences with Renet and Keno would come into play when being friends with Sam.  
He looked over her one last time and made sure that she was still on her side. Once Sam fell asleep then she never moved, not once. Not unless she completely woke up in the middle of the night. He quickly and quietly left the room. He shot a quick message to April about talking to her about some things next time she was free, but still decided to keep the information about what was said about his brother a secret. He didn't know what to make of this information himself, so he decided to keep this information hidden unless any signs of needing to talk to him about it surfaced.

 ***Wednedsay April 27** **th** **, 2016. Sam's apartment***

 ****DONNIE COMES OVER AND SAM ACCUSES HIM OF LYING BECAUSE SHE HAS DONE HER OWN RESEARCH AND KNOWS ABOUT

BEBOP AND ROCKSTEADY STARTING A SECRET BRANCH IN PRISON

KARAI GATHERING WORLDWIDE OPERATIVES TOGETHER

FOOT HAVE BEEN CAUGHT SPYING ON THE PROJECT DONNIE HAS BEEN WORKING ON WITH THE HUMANS 


	54. Chapter 54

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
** **Thank you.**

Chapter #54

 ***Wednedsay April 27** **th** **, 2016. Sam's apartment. 9:00p.m.***

Donnie had received a text message from Sam. He was now in the alleyway outside her apartment complex as he did what he needed to in ordered to undo her alarm systems. A couple minutes later he was crawling through her open window and was standing in her room.  
"Hey, what's up? You said it was important" he said as he now shut and locked the window behind him.  
Sam was sitting in her swivel chair at the desk in her room. She now spun the chair around so that she was facing Donnie.  
"Thank god you're here! I need a break!" she exclaimed as she stretched her arms and twisted her arms to then crack and stretch her back.  
"Wait, what?" Donnie asked, obviously extremely confused.  
"Don't worry, I didn't mean important like I was in danger, but I needed a homework break dude. I had a test today, I just submitted a ridiculously long paper like 20 minutes ago. I need to relax my mind before everything that I need to tackle tomorrow. My face has literally been in front of either a computer or a text book for solid hour long periods of time now" Sam said as she slouched back in her desk chair.  
Donnie chuckled. "Well you could have said that in the message" he said as he plopped down and sat on her bed, making sure to kick his shoes off and place them along the wall. Everyone knew Sam DID NOT like people's shoes on her bed.  
"So what assignments have you been working on that your face has been in front of your computer for so long?" Donnie asked, removing his equipment and also lining devices along the wall.  
"Ohhhhhh, you know. I have this math class where I needed to research how to solve some of the more complicated formulas that the textbook sucks at explaining, I had a paper to write about local politicians for a debate in my one class, looking up information about how Karai has been spotted in Japan along with Hun" Sam said and then purposefully paused.  
She saw that Donnie had paused awkwardly from placing his belongings along the wall.

"Oh you heard me correctly" Sam said in a rather nasty tone.  
Donnie stood up and turned towards her.  
"So, is that why you called me to join you?" he asked somberly.  
"No, I called you because Raph walked me home yesterday so tonight would be your turn to see me. That means you're the one who gets to hear me get pissed off" she said as she crossed her arms and also crossed one leg over the other.  
"Sam-" Donnie said as he ran his hand over top his head.  
"I knew you guys would keep me in the dark, even Mikey did. Leo said on Monday that you guys would keep me posted-"  
"IF it put your life in danger" Donnie snapped back (shocking Sam a bit). "But right now no one's life is in danger. We're trying to make sense of what we're learning as well. So far everything is just articles and hacking cameras to gain visuals and then piece things together from there. I don't know your definition of being in danger but to me looking at words and videos isn't putting you in harm's way" he said rather sternly.  
Sam pouted. "Still…"  
"Why are you looking this up anyway? You have all these assignments to worry about, so when are you even finding time for this?" he asked, more so curious than upset.  
"We took a bus trip down to Maryland for our game today. I told myself if I could get enough homework done then I could do some research. Best motivation tactic I have ever used on myself. I must say it was most effective."  
Donnie nodded. "So what did you find?"  
Sam scoffed. "Well for you it's probably a repeat of information now. But, since you asked, I read that Karai has been spotted in Japan. I'd assume she's gathering loyal Foot soldiers to bring with her hear to New York. I've hacked into a variety of different establishment's video feeds and spotted Hun with her on numerous occasions. Also, for the hell of it, I looked into Sachs's bank accounts. He's in jail so nothing should be happening with his money, yet there have been purchases made for materials, where but of course, Japan! Although there were also some purchases made in Russia, so I don't know if that means they have connections there as well. But then there's also the fact that Bebop and Rocksteady have now been allowed to roam freely during recreational hours in their prison and are no longer sentenced to just sitting in the same cell for hours and hours-"

"Wait, what?" Donnie asked, genuine shock displayed on his face.  
"Yeah, the files state that they were given permission…today…" Sam paused. She leaned forward and placed her hands on her knees. "You didn't know that yet, did you?" she asked softly.  
"No I didn't. Show me where you discovered this now" he said as he walked up behind her as she swung her chair around and placed her second laptop in front of her (because of course she had one for school work and one filled with programs that helped make the device un-trackable).  
Sam typed in some codes when accessing files from the prison's database and pulled up multiple files regarding the mutant criminals.  
Donnie read over each file quickly but carefully.  
"I can't believe it. They're in the same prison as Sachs AND Tatsu and yet they now can roam around freely?!" Donnie exclaimed. "What the hell, how were they given permission for this?"  
"Apparently the corrections officers stated that if the two were able to behave then they would gain one chance, and only one chance, to 'blend in' with the other prisoners. This way they're not locked up and doing nothing. In a sense I get it. The two never did anything serious besides for petty crimes and some minor robberies before they worked for Shredder. I know they didn't exactly have a choice in that, and honestly they're too stupid to truly harm anyone. They carry weapons on them but they usually don't harm people as long as they do what the two say. Basically they're the crappiest excuses for bad guys out there. However, they still chose to be bad guys. They deserve to be in jail but, as much as I hate to say it, they technically don't deserve solitary confinement. ADDING TO THAT, they now have the chances to communicate with Sachs and Tatsu, which is terrifying" Sam said as she pursed her lips.

"Have you checked all four of their schedules to see if and when they can meet in person?" Donnie asked.  
"Already checked. None of them actually meet face to face, besides the mutant duo who also somehow gained permission to stay together at all times, but they don't meet up with the other two. And then Sachs and Tatsu don't even meet up ever."  
Donnie stood up straight and crossed his arms, his chin resting on his knuckle.  
"Something's not right. Knowing those two morons, they would be fine if they were stuck in a crammed room with nothing but each other for the rest of their lives. They wouldn't even know what to ask for in regards to fair treatment unless someone coaxed them."  
"That means someone had to convince them to even ask for things like movement during recreational periods."

The two then paused and faced each other. Donnie looked down at Sam, and she looked up at him.  
"Research time?" Sam asked, her lips beginning to form a small smile.  
Donnie nodded. "You're lucky I'm invested in this" he said as he walked over and retrieved his own tech that was lined along the wall.  
For the next couple of hours the two continued to research as much as they could about how the hell the two mutant dweebs received the privileges that they had, and then tried to link this to any other information they had already gained about Hun and Karai.

"It's been 2 hours, it's now 11:00p.m. What information have we gathered so far D?" Sam asked.  
"Well, not including the United States, Sachs has supposedly purchased tickets to visit Tokyo in Japan, Seoul in South Korea, Shanghai and Beijing in China, Manila in the Philippines, Mumbai in India, Moscow in Russia, Sydney in Australia, Lagos in Nigeria, Rio de Janiero in Brazil, Barcelona in Spain, Mexico City in Mexico, Toronto in Canada, London in the United Kingdom, Berlin in Germany, Paris in France, and Rome in Italy."  
"Alright, what have we gathered about 'Sach's' visits, aka Karai and Hun's world travels?" she asked, spinning her chair around with her laptop in her lap so that she could face Donnie who was pacing back and forth on the floor behind her.  
"We've seen multiple camera angles that display where they went, but it's extremely difficult to make any connections. I was hoping to see what their objective was, if there was any connection between their visits from country to country. Unfortunately many of these countries provide little to no access to the two at all due to lack of tech to film and follow them. Also, none of the people from the few camera angles we've been able to see look familiar from video to video."  
"So basically-" Sam groaned in frustration.  
"We've still got nothing…but…" he said as he froze in his place.  
"Watcha thinking?" Sam asked, sitting up straight in excitement for a lead on their hacking journeys.  
Donnie turned around and pointed at her, nodding the entire time as if agreeing with his own thoughts.  
"We've been trying to make connections from video to video, but what if the people they met are here?"  
Sam paused for a second to comprehend what was just said.  
"Those people could have traveled. We've been following Hun and Karai, but we don't know anything about the people they've been visiting. Those people could be somewhere here in the U.S. now!" Sam announced.  
"Write down all of this! We need to get this to Casey. This information is going to be way to huge for just the two of us to handle."

Sam nodded her head and grabbed a notepad and wrote down what Donnie said as fast as her hand would allow.  
"So far we know that Karai and Hun have traveled to 16 countries and 17 cities. We know that they visited different people in each country, although we don't know exactly how many people were visited in each country. Some videos show the two in more isolated streets, others show them in crowded areas. At any time they could be communicating with groups of people or with individuals. The races of people in each country has been very diverse. For example, even in countries like Japan, China, South Korea, countries where almost all of the population is one race, they still met in areas where there was a diverse number of people with different racial backgrounds in those areas-"  
"Meaning it would be ten times more difficult to pin point just exactly who their target person or people were to meet. It makes it more difficult to come to conclusions as to what their motives are. They could be rounding up worldwide Foot soldiers from the Tokyo branch where the most loyal soldiers lie, they could be meeting high school friends. We have no idea because there's no pattern. It would be different if it were always, for example, Asian citizens they were meeting. But it seems they were meeting people of all different backgrounds" Sam added aloud.

"Exactly. They knew someone might be watching, and they knew things like Sachs money being used would eventually get out IF someone took the time to even check a man in prison's financial records…hold on."  
Donnie then walked back over to the bed and picked up his tablet.  
"What are you doing? Sam asked.  
"Get as many safe devices that you have and pull up as many different videos from the different countries where they visited. Look for what they're doing and not just who they're with this time" Donnie stated.  
Sam nodded. She grabbed a few more devices, used some more complex coding languages to protect herself from being hacked, and pulled up as many videos as she could.  
40 minutes later, she understood what Donnie meant.  
"They've been handing out flyers. Like, they literally look like entrepreneurs. The question now is what information is being distributed on those papers?" Sam questioned.  
Donnie shook his head.  
"That's the thing. They could be rounding up new recruits, they could be giving out coordinates, and they could be distributing instructions for a plan that's already been put into place. It could all of the above!" he said as he ran his hand over his head.  
"Got it. Wrote it all down" Sam added. "We need to get this to someone higher than the police. People NEED to be on the lookout not only for Hun and Karai, but for everyone in all of these videos. We need to know who these hosts from each country visited after these conversations were held, what they do afterwards, are they even still in the countries where they met? Hell, they could all be in the U.S. by now."

The two deadpanned and stared at each other with wide eyes.  
"CORRECTIONS!" they both announced. They then quickly pulled up documents and began researching information about the corrections officers who allowed Bebop and Rocksteady permission to mingle about with the other prisoners.  
"Hmmm so far these guys all check out. We defeated Kraang on June 8th, 2015. All these officers had been working at the prison way before then. Thorough background checks would need to be conducted to determine if they have any secret ties with the Foot" Donnie said, cracking his knuckles after typing so long.  
"Oh shit" Sam said, her jaw dropped slightly open.  
"What's up?" Donnie asked with caution.  
She waved him to come over, so he walked over and stood over her shoulder.

"So you had the idea to look into the corrections officers backgrounds, but I thought about when Kraang left on June 8th. That's given Karai and Hun…basically 10 months to put whatever plan they had going into action. The first plane ticket purchased was for Madrid, Spain, the second for New Delhi India. All of this happened in early July. However, based on the dates, the few videos we have of the two in these countries shows them literally going to their hotels and then heading to their next flight. The first video we see them actually meeting with others is in Sydney Australia."  
Sam made sure to pull up whatever videos she was talking about in order to make her transitions easier for Donnie to follow, and also just to prove her points.  
"That means anyone they met from Sydney had 9 months to travel to the United States to follow whatever directions Karai and Hun could have possibly given them. Now look closely at this man here" Sam said as she paused a video.  
She then pointed to a man in the background of the video. The white man was a bus boy and cleared the table where Karai and Hun were seen having a meal with a group of young females of various races.  
Sam then switched over to a hacked video feed from the prison.  
"Now this video was recorded today in the court yard. Now tell me that these two men are not the same person."  
Donnie's eyes went wide. She was right. The man's hair was obviously different, but his body stature, his height, it was definitely the same guy. His arms had gotten a bit buffer, but when examining the clips side by side, this was definitely the same guy.  
"They've been recruiting. Follow the video dates. Where did they go after Sydney?" Donnie asked.  
"Ummmm, give me a second, I typed them up."  
Sam then pulled up a Word document where she had typed the order and dates from each video that they had discovered (Donnie was low-key proud of her organization skills).  
"Alright, now-"  
"I already have maps up for coordinates" Donnie said, catching on to what Sam was thinking as he now had a program up and running where a world map was now glowing in front of him as he typed on the devices on his wrist.  
"After Australia they went to the Philippines, then Japan, then South Korea, China, India, Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico City, and currently they are in Canada."  
"So they went in order. They went to the countries that were furthest away so that anyone they recruit from those countries would have a longer period of time to do whatever they needed to in order to travel over towards the U.S." he said as he closed down the images and covered his wrist device.

"Son of a bitch" Sam said as she ran her hands through her hair. "They've been planning this all along. They know exactly what they're doing. And we have no idea just what it is they're planning either."  
"And we don't know how many of the people they've met are already here. Hell the guy now currently in prison never actually met them face to face, at least not from what we can see anyway, yet here he is in the United States. Who knows how many people are even here that aren't here with good intentions" Donnie said with a huff as he sat down on the bed.  
"That or they could have traveled to other countries and god knows what they're doing elsewhere" Sam said, not realizing she was now nervously tapping her fingers on the side of her desk chair.  
"And that could play a role in Bebop and Rocksteady's granted permission. That man was in the court yard with them. What if…" Donnie trailed off.  
"Shit, don't say it" Sam said covering her eyes with her hands.  
"He's there for a reason, same with them. They could be conversing and who knows who else they're conversing with. Plus, this information could be traveling around the prison to Sachs and Tatsu. Security guards could be in on it depending on who is pretending to be whom" Donnie announced in hysteric excitement.  
"He said it" Sam said slumping in her chair. "This is unbelievable" she said. "How have we been allowing this to happen for all this time?"  
"Because Shredder disappeared, so everyone thought that meant the Foot would disappear. But we were wrong. Something is being planned and we need to figure out what. Call Casey right now!"

Sam nodded as she called Casey's cell…and got his voicemail.  
"Hey man, meet with Donnie and the guys the first free second you get, it's an emergency and Vincent needs to know so higher ups can be involved. This is serious business on a global scale, and I mean that literally. Like I said, get in contact with Donnie the first second you get."  
Sam hung up the phone and flopped back onto her bed. She looked over at her clock and was shocked to see that it was already 1:30a.m.  
"Ugh, now we gotta download everything so that-"  
"Already done" Donnie said as he shut down his device. "I have copied everything so that I can relay everything we now know to Casey."  
"Thank god!" Sam said, extending her arms out to her sides. "I did not want to have to sit there and take the time to do all that."

Donnie chuckled. "Guess that's my cue to leave then, huh?" he said with a smile.  
Sam sat up, a little too quickly since her head was now a bit dizzy.  
"What? Why? We just got all our work done. We can actually relax now" she said with a beaming smile.  
"Um, you have classes tomorrow" Donnie stated matter-of-factly.  
"Not until later in the afternoon. My first couple of classes got canceled and I have no practices or rehearsals tomorrow. SO STAY" Sam said, waving her arms to her side as a sign for her friend to sit down next to her.  
"How do you still have energy after doing all that for hours, and that's after you had completed a bunch of other college assignments" he said as he playfully shook his head.  
"Pshh you have no right to talk you hypocrite!" Sam exclaimed. While Donnie had been cleaning up his tech which had been scattered all throughout the room, he didn't realize that as Sam was talking she was removing her black and green Adidas hoodie, and in doing so, got stuck and had toppled into the wall.  
He turned around to check on her, just to see that her arms were raised above her head due to still being stuck in the arms of the hoodie (she had tried to pull the hoodie up and over her head) and that the majority of the hoodie was covering her face and was now revealing her chest, which meant that her bra was revealed as well.

Donnie quickly looked away as a means to be courteous and not stare at his sister in this state.  
"Um, help. Please?" Sam asked. "I'm wearing a sports bra so you're safe."  
Donnie then slowly turned around and saw that Sam's chest was covered thanks to the stretched material of her sports bra. He sighed in relief and walked over to help her stand up.  
Sam then successfully removed the hoodie. She ruffled a hand through her now slightly messed up hair as she looked up at Donnie and smiled a wide teeth filled smile.  
"Thanks man!" she said aloud.  
Donnie laughed.  
"Okay one, it's early in the morning so lower your voice. And two, just be happy it was me and not a stranger or anything."  
"Man, that's two brothers in two days. I gotta get better at removing hoodies" Sam said as she lay on her stomach on her bed so that her chin was hanging over the edge.  
"Wait, two?" Donnie chuckled. "Who's the other brother?"  
Sam then sat up and pursed her lips.  
"I guess Raph kept his mouth shut. I have even more respect for him now" she said with a smile as she nodded her head.  
"Okay I need explanations" Donnie said as he now took a seat in Sam's desk chair.  
"So, I may have been a little drunk-"  
"You were wasted" Donnie said with a smirk.  
"I see he made sure to tell you that part" Sam groaned.  
"Oh yes" Donnie said with a playfully delirious smile.  
"ANYWAY. Apparently I had a similar situation where I couldn't get my hoodie off, and I may have flashed him my bra yesterday" she said, twiddling her fingers.  
"Oh my god that's great!" Donnie said, laughing aloud.  
"Excuse me?" Sam said, taken aback by this unexpected response.  
"Raph is so incredibly awkward, I can't imagine what he was thinking when that happened.  
"Interesting" Sam said. She jumped up and then lay sideways on her bed, her head resting in one hand while one leg was kicked up. This had now become her questioning pose for the night.  
"Please explain Donatello, how you reacted when I was topless" she stated in a direct manner.

He shrugged. "You're a good friend, so I knew it would only be weird if I made it weird. I mean I would never want you to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed, so I made sure to look away so that you wouldn't feel that way. Heh, but knowing Raph he would be freaking out as he tried to decided where to look and how to react."  
Sam smiled at Donnie's first comment. She appreciated what he said about not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. She then rolled her eyes as she listened to Donnie talk about Raph's reaction.  
"For the nerdy brother you sure pick on your brothers a lot."  
"It's only fair. Being the second youngest they pick on me almost just as much as Mikey. They just don't pick on me as much because I'm smart and they know I have the best comebacks."  
"Ohhh they HATE when they don't understand your comebacks either! Mikey will laugh it off, but the older two get so frustrated that I can't help but laugh" she said, laughing herself.

"What can I say?" he stated as he threw his hands up beside him. "Being the smartest includes quick smartass comments."  
"Nerdy but sassy" Sam said as she pointed at him, while now also sitting up in her bed. "That's one of my favorite things about you" she said with the cringiest wink Donnie had ever seen.  
He threw his hand over his mouth, but it didn't prevent him from laughing out loud.  
Sam began to pout as she crossed her arms.  
"Wow, I just complimented you to" she said as she shook her head. "And to think, I was going to watch Deadpool with you. OH WELL."  
Sam turned her head but peeked to see Donnie gasp with a smile on his face.  
"Ahhhh I haven't seen it yet! Do you have a copy?!" he exclaimed.  
"I don't know. I might have one. But maybe I returned it to the library already" she said with a smirk.  
"I will fight you for that movie" he said as he began to stand up, his arms at his sides as if he was a cowboy reaching for his handguns on the sides of his waist.  
Sam looked at him and scoffed.  
"You think I'm afraid of you?" she asked, looking the turtle up and down.  
"You should be" he said as he lunged.  
He expected Sam to react in some way, but it was obvious that the girl was laughing way too much to think straight.  
Donnie threw the girl over his shoulder.  
"Oh man you're so heavy, I think I'm gonna fall" he said with a snicker. Of course he would never drop her, and to him, Sam was as light as a feather. But hearing her freak out and laugh-scream about being dropped was just too damn funny, so he faked his stumbles as if he was actually going to drop her.

"Alright! I have the film! I'll show you!" she said, tears forming in her eyes from laughing so much.  
"That's what I thought" he said as he carefully put her back down.  
Sam squinted her eyes at him. "I got my eyes on you."  
Donnie spun her around so that she was now facing the doorway.  
"Great, that's awesome. Now lead me to the DVD!" he said as he gently pushed her forward.  
Sam smiled as she dashed out of the room and into the living room.

Donnie walked into the room as well…and Sam was gone.  
"Ughhh I wanna watch the movie Sam!" he announced.  
He looked around and didn't sense any movement, so he decided to make things more fun and turned off all the lights.  
"Alright. If you wanna play ninja, let's play ninja" Donnie said in a serious tone.  
He made sure each step was taken with extreme caution. He didn't want to give Sam any hints that he was heading her way. He crept all throughout the living room, making sure not to make a sound as he carefully moved furniture to see if he could find her. After a few minutes it was evident that she wasn't in the living room or the kitchen, so he made his way back towards her room. He stopped and turned to his left so that he was now standing in front of the entrance to the bathroom on that floor.  
A smirk grew on his face as he slowly opened the door, making a slight creaking sound whilst doing so.  
He knew that there was only one place she could hide if she was hiding in this room, and that was obviously behind the shower curtain.  
He gently got a grip on the curtain and then yanked it open, only to be sprayed in the face with the shower head that was being held in Sam's hand.  
The girl laughed hysterically as she then leapt out of the tub and dashed out of the room. Of course, Donnie being the speed demon that he was dashed after the girl in the still pitch black room. He heard her footsteps near the couch and literally lunged, not realizing how close he actually was to her.

In lunging, he had dragged Sam down onto the floor with him. Somehow she was able to wriggle her way out, but her laughter made it obvious where she was located, so once again Donnie lunged onto the couch where he brought Sam down with him.  
"Welp time to get comfy" he said as he quickly adjusted himself so that he was literally sitting on Sam's stomach.  
He turned to see her eyes turn blue, her powers kicking in and making her stomach strong enough to hold Donatello's weight.  
"No! Donnay!" she announced through her laughs.  
"Where's the movie Sam?" he asked, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back further.  
"It's already in the DVD player! Remote's on the arm of the couch!"

Donnie stood up and reached for the remote and turned on the t.v. He was shocked to see that the screen was already displaying the menu to start the movie. Now that the television was on, there was light that allowed him to properly see things around the room, including the girl that was now sitting behind him as she was still laying down and catching her breath while he was sitting on the edge of the couch.  
"This is what our original plans were, right? Before we started sleuthing?" he asked with a smile.  
"Yes" Sam said as she finally caught her breath. "Can you go get the snacks from the fridge and on the counter? I would but I've been squished so that the air has been released from my lungs" she stated in a loud and direct tone.  
Donnie rolled his eyes and smirked. "If I must" he said as he stood up from the couch.  
He walked over and retrieved the mix of Asian and American based chips, gummies, crackers and cookies that Sam had spread out across the table, only taking a few snacks at a time or else the two would get sick from eating every single snack that was currently on the kitchen table.  
He then walked over towards the fridge where he knew the variety of different drinks were kept.  
He scanned his eyes over all the different drinks. An "oooh" escaped his lips as his attention was directed towards a bottle of Jepun chocolate mint milk tea.  
"Sam, what drink do you want?" he called out as he snatched the milk tea from the fridge.  
"Ramune. Coconut flavored" Sam called out.  
Donnie located the soda and grabbed the bottle. He then gathered the two drinks and the few snacks (for now he decided to stick to the chips) and headed back over towards the couch.

He plopped down on the right side of the couch (when facing the television) and kicked his feet up. He was laying on the long part of the couch that extended further outward as if forming an L. Sam was currently on the left side of the couch and had her legs kicked up so that they were laying down the middle of the couch. This meant that while she was lying on the left side of the couch, her feet were closer to where Donnie was laying.  
"Heads up" he said as he first tossed her the soda and then tossed her a smaller bag of chips.  
"Thanks fam" she said as she practically tore into the bag. "You ready?" she asked.  
"Of course!" he announced.  
With that, the movie started.  
The two watched and laughed their asses of throughout the entire film. They literally had to keep shushing each other because one of the two was always laughing way too loud for it being 2 to 3 in the morning.  
Donnie assumed he would be helping Sam get to bed afterwards since he assumed she would be dead tired once the movie had ended, yet here Sam was talking animatedly about her favorite scenes from the film as she cleaned up the endless wrappers, bags, and juice boxes and bottles on the floor in front of the couch.  
Donnie stared as her in astonishment. "How are you still awake?" he asked in shock.  
"Again, you're a total hypocrite" she scoffed.  
"Seriously Sam, how are you still wired? You should be dead tired by now" he said, concern evident in his tone.  
"Ummm, it's all the snacks we've been eating" she said nodding her head and scurrying over towards the trash can in the kitchen.  
"That makes sense" Donnie replied, lying through his teeth. He then carefully walked over and peeked inside the trash can.  
"Ahhh there's the real reason" he said as he peeked inside.  
"What?" Sam asked as she turned around from putting back the uneaten snacks, only to see Donnie holding up two large Starbucks cups, both with 2 hits of espresso checked off along the sides of the cup.  
"Seriously?" he asked.  
"HYPOCRITE!" she announced aloud as she aggressively pointed towards him.  
"Okay but I'm locked up in a sewer where I can sleep all day if I've been up all night working on a project. You have classes and practices and other various responsibilities. I mean you do way too much for one person to handle so you need to sleep" he said, his tone growing rather cross.  
"Yeah well I have what feels like a million assignments to complete each day along with practices and rehearsals that prevent me from completing the course work and studying for tests. And then I need to work different events for different university organizations in order to keep my scholarships-"  
"Wait, I thought you were getting grants from organizations secretly supporting fallen Foot members?" Donnie questioned.  
"Well yeah I got some, but that barely covers the cost of 3 classes. I still needed money for the other two, plus the cost of books was all out of pocket. And of course each class required the newest editions of the textbooks so I couldn't purchase used copies of previous editions. Luckily I was able to rent everything but it was still pricey as hell. Thank god for Amazon and prime memberships for lowering the prices slightly" Sam groaned.  
"So what university organizations are you working for?" he asked, growing slightly irritated that Sam was now carrying more stress on her shoulders than he and his brothers realized.  
"SGA" she stated, as if he had any idea what that meant.  
"I'm assuming that's the 'student government association?" he asked.  
"Yes" Sam said. She was trying to display a poker face that hid what was on her mind, but Donnie was able to read her better than that.  
He straightened his back and scoffed. "You're in more groups than that, aren't you?" he asked sternly.  
Sam slumped backwards against the counter and started turning her body away from him, as if she was about to run out of the room.  
"SAM!" Donnie exclaimed.  
Sam stopped moving and sighed. When Donnie talked like that, he was serious, and trying to play things off like she was about to would really piss him off, and she cared about her brother too much to allow that. She turned around, but she stared at his feet as she spoke.  
"4 groups" she mumbled.  
"4 GROUPS?!" he exclaimed as he threw his hands up at his sides. "What the hell, why?!"  
"Cause I need the scholarship money! Each group gives out scholarships to members who participate enough throughout each semester, some larger than others. Any type of scholarship is helpful at this point. I mean Jay paid so much money straight out of pocket for me to attend this year alone, there's no way we can do that for 3 more years!" Sam said defensively.  
"What are the groups?" Donnie asked, crossing his arms and leaning back against the fridge.

"SGA, ISA or International Students Association, SCC or sports club council, and Helping Hands. The last one is a volunteer organization where students work with businesses off of campus, so like soup kitchens, elderly homes, helping the homeless, saving the planet kind of stuff. The other three are pretty self-explanatory. We handle finances of campus activities and groups, we plan and organize campus events, help students get adjusted to campus life. I don't do much for any of them to be honest, but every so many weeks I have to work different events. SGA and ISA each will write me a check for 200 dollars, and SCC and Helping Hands will write me checks for 100. That's 600 dollars' worth of free money towards each upcoming semester!" Sam announced, stressing how important all these groups were towards herself.  
"Okay, now tell me what else you do on campus" Donnie stated.  
Sam was silent once more.  
"Come on" Donnie said. His stance made it clear that he wasn't leaving until she 'spilled the beans.'  
"…I have two on-campus jobs" Sam whispered as she twiddled her fingers.  
"Why?" Donnie groaned.  
"Because the tech job is usually right before or after my dance rehearsals so it's easy money where I can study and complete other assignments simultaneously, and the tutoring job is available whenever I am" she mumbled.  
"Jesus what else are you doing?" Donnie asked, because he was too smart for his own good and could tell that she was STILL keeping information from him.  
"…I've entered a writing contest…8 times" Sam said. "THAT'S OFFICIALLY IT NOTHING ELSE!"  
"How?" he asked, rubbing his fingers against the sides of his temples. "Like when are you eating? When are you sleeping?"  
"Well, I'm eating caffeine filled foods and beverages, and I sleep…10 minutes before and after classes end" she replied nervously.  
"Sam-"  
"Dude you don't get how expensive college is. I would start at community college first, but you gain such a high rep if you make the dance and soccer teams here as a freshman. Like I already have scouts eyeing me up! That's huge! All because I'm on this team as a freshy! I need to be here, which means I need money to be here!"  
"Okay, hold up. I get the clubs and jobs, but why the writing contests? How is that helping you financially?" he genuinely asked.  
"You get prizes if you win. I now have three 20 dollar gift cards to the campus book store. That's 60 dollars towards books for next semester, money I'm not wasting after not being able to fully afford the fall semester" she stated.  
Donnie sighed.  
"Sam, you're literally one of the toughest people I know, but this is insane. How can you possibly handle all that by yourself?" he asked. At this point he wasn't angry, but more so seriously concerned for the girl's health. "God and then you're spending hours looking up information about Karai and Hun? You should be asleep right now."  
"Look, I can do this. It's only for 3 years and then I never have to work to that point of exhaustion ever again. Please Donnie you can't tell Jay or anyone about all of this" Sam begged.  
"And what happens when you collapse because you haven't eaten enough? Or because you're hallucinating from lack of sleep?" he asked in a worried tone.  
"Okay I get enough sleep to prevent myself from hallucinating, and I'm still eating, I promise. I eat all throughout the day, I just don't sit down for official meals. But dude I'm still healthy. I wouldn't be allowed to play soccer and dance if I wasn't" she reassured.

Donnie sighed.  
"Please just promise me something" he said.  
"Yeah. Anything" Sam said as she rapidly nodded her head.  
"The second things go too far, the very first second you feeling dizzy, or, or the first time you start seeing clowns standing behind people because of lack of food and sleep, or the first second you have a mental breakdown from stress, you start eliminating these extra groups from your schedule. I mean you're taking 5 classes plus constantly attending rehearsals and practices. You need to take care of yourself" he said as he now placed his hands on her shoulders.  
"We NEED you to be okay. Okay?"  
Sam couldn't help but smile. "Deal" she said, lifting her arm up and holding her pinky out in front of her.  
The turtle chuckled as he completed the pinky promise.  
"I'm proud of your grit, but you and your safety, heh and your sanity, are so much more important" he reassured.  
He then looked over at the clock are realized it was 3a.m.  
"And on that note, you're heading to bed. NOW" he said with raised brows to emphasize how serious he was.  
"Okay mom" the girl replied as she rolled her eyes.  
"Why am I always mom? Everyone else is dad, but I'm mom" he said as he laughed.  
"Because you're stern but you're nice" she said, making doe eyes as she stared up at the taller turtle.  
"Flattery will get you nowhere. GO" he said as he gently nudged her so that she would turn around and head towards her bedroom.  
"You're also stubborn" she said snidely, yet playfully.

Sam quickly changed into more comfortable clothes in her bedroom while Donnie waited outside in the living room. He would have left after that…but he didn't trust that she would actually go to bed afterwards. So he talked to her a little longer. Luckily, he could sense that she was getting more and more drowsy.

Sam walked over towards her desk, but that fast was pulled away as Donnie hooked his arms around hers.  
"Ha, nice try. BED" he stated as he tried to gently walk her back towards her bed.  
"Ughhhhh mom I'm not sleepy yet!" Sam whined as she made her body go limp and collapsed, almost dragging Donnie down with her.  
"Unfortunately for you I've dealt with two children who are masters at this, so handling you is nothing" he said as he swiftly pulled her back up and over his shoulder.  
'Damn, I keep forgetting how freaking strong he is!' Sam thought to herself. There were multiple times where she underestimated the turtle's strength since he was so much thinner than his brothers. But being thin had nothing to do with the power built up within the muscle of this mutant, which was being proven right now as Donnie then tossed Sam onto the bed and within a split second of doing so had collapsed onto the bed himself.  
His left arm lay across her chest (more-so his elbow) as his hand held onto her left arm, and his left leg was laid across her legs so that they were pinned to the bed.  
However, while Sam was laughing, she was still able to move around some while trying to break free.  
"Hmmm" Donnie hummed, wondering how he could trap the girl and force her to fall asleep.  
He then devised a plan which Sam fell right into (she wasn't thinking straight due to her laughing so much from failing at trying to break free).

Donnie lifted his left side up for a split second, to which Sam tried to get up, allowing just enough space for Donnie to slide his right arm and leg under her so that his right arm and leg were between her and the bed. He then clamped his left arm and leg down as Sam was in the middle of turning when trying to escape, so now she was trapped as Donatello tightly held onto her, his arms and legs wrapped around her tightly while in what ended up being a typical cuddle position, although now it was being used to hold Sam captive.  
"Awwww man! I fell right into your trap!" Sam pouted, but Donnie could tell she was still smiling.  
"Perfect!" he said with a wide smile as his chin lay on top of her head, "now you're trapped and will have to fall asleep!"  
"NEVER!" Sam said, still wiggling and trying to break free (girl didn't stand a chance, but she tried).  
Every few seconds Sam would try wriggling again, but Donnie wasn't going to budge.  
"You done yet?" he asked.  
Sam could just hear the smirk forming on his face.  
"Yes. But because I chose to surrender and because I am comfortable. Your muscular power has nothing to do with it" she stated firmly.  
"Mhm" Donnie said with a nod. "Why are you so against sleeping anyway?"  
"Hypocrite" Sam mumbled.  
"Fine. I get it. There's a million things that need to get done and when everyone else is sleeping is the perfect time to get things accomplished. But you have to live during the day. If I stay up all day then I can just call it off one night on patrol and that's it. You're going to collapse from exhaustion during one of your classes" he said in what had switched over to a more worried tone.

"Leo told us what happened earlier this week by the way."  
Sam groaned.  
Donnie continued to talk. "That means I know you fell asleep on the bench outside the library, and I know you almost fell down the steps, and I know you were calling out to Leo when you thought he was in one place and really he was nowhere close to that spot."  
"That happened one time" Sam said, rolling her eyes.  
"Yeah, three things, at one time. Luckily Leo was there to walk you home" he said, holding onto Sam just a little tighter.  
Obviously Sam sensed this and curled up some, physically stating that she wasn't playfully going to try and escape anymore.  
"You worry too much" she whispered.  
"Can you blame me?" he scoffed. "With your track record it's hard not to."  
Sam sighed with a smile. "Fair, point taken. But you guys know I'll call you if something happens-"  
"If you can get to the phone in time" Donnie cut in.  
"You're referring to that night, huh?" Sam asked, referring to the night the jocks jumped her.  
Donnie nodded, his chin still resting on top of the girl's head.  
"Do you have any idea how scared we were? Both in general since a woman could have had the worst most traumatizing experience of her life that night, but then how much worse it got when we realized it was you?" he asked in a whisper, not wanting to sound weak and have his voice crack.  
"I have an idea, but no. I've seen Shredder and Kraang fight you guys and it scared the shit out of me, but obviously you've never been put in that type of traumatizing situation…do you guys ever get frustrated having to deal with me?" Sam asked softly.  
Donnie released his arms and jumped up.  
"Come again?"  
"Nothing" Sam stated quickly, making sure not to move because she knew that Donnie probably looked shocked and hurt and pissed all in one look right now.  
"What did you just ask me?" Donnie stated sternly, now demonstrating that he was hurt and pissed.  
Sam slowly turned over. "Just, I'm always doing things that scare you guys. I mean, you guys already have so much to worry about, especially now that we figured out what Karai and Hun's motives are" she said as her face was turned inwards towards her pillow.  
Donnie sighed as he reached over and gently, using just the right amount of force, pulled on Sam's arm and made her turn over so that she had to look at him.  
"Sam, are you that clueless to realize that you've brought ten times as many happy moments into our lives compared to the scary moments?" Donnie asked. "You've taken us places we could only imagine visiting, you've connected with each of us in ways we never thought we'd be able to connect with anyone, ever. You've introduced us to enough trustworthy people that our family has grown larger than we ever thought it would. You can't seriously think that we're caught up on the moments where things went wrong."  
"Yeah, but-"  
"Sam," Donnie cut in, "there are things that have happened to you that sadly could also happen to anyone at any time, like what those dickless jocks tried to do to you" he said as he balled his hand into a fist, grabbing onto the sheets below him without realizing he was doing so. He sighed. "It's not just you, sadly bad things happen in life. But that's why family needs to stay close, to be there when they need each other. That's why all of us are still here regardless of everything that has happened, because we all care about and support and protect each other. You're worth our time and worry Sam" he said as he looked down at his friend who was still laying down on the bed.

Sam sat up and leaned her head onto her friends shoulder.  
"I guess I feel the same way about you four" she teased in a dull voice.  
"You guess huh?" Donnie smirked, throwing his arm around the girl's shoulder. "You've only risked your life for us, I don't even know how many times now, and you guess?"  
"Well then I guess that proves that you guys are also worth my time and worry" she said matter of factly."  
The two continued to talk and tease each other as they reflected on times where they both kicked ass and saved the other, or others in their family group. This conversation gradually switched back and forth from them talking about different topics relating to their family. Eventually, Sam became drowsy and fell asleep while still leaning on Donnie's shoulder.

As the girl lay against his shoulder, he stared down at her for a few minutes.  
Man she terrified him. He never thought anyone could have such a huge impact on his life, yet earlier he had been raising his voice because the girl wasn't taking care of herself properly. Didn't she realize how much of a panic he and his brothers would go into if anything happened to her? Because that's all they needed, was to get a phone call that Sam had walked out into traffic being only semi-conscious because of exhaustion, or who knows what else. His mind then flashed to the night where they literally were in the right place at the right time.

Kris had sent a message that Sam wasn't home, so the guys decided to swing by the university to see if they could spot Sam, and what did they find? A blacked out Sam with 7 guys surrounding her.  
The turtle felt chills run through his body as he remembered the sight. He had to fight his mind from even thinking about what could have happened to her if they hadn't shown up when they did, and that occasion had nothing to do with Sam being tired and malnourished!  
He sighed as he slowly moved so that he could gently lay Sam down on her bed. He covered her up, turned off the lights, and then quietly and swiftly gathered all his tech. He opened her window, but he stood there for a minute and stared back at his friend before making his leave.

Terrified, that's the feeling she left him with. When he first met her, he never would have thought that a year later he would constantly be worried sick about her health and well-being, like a true brother and sister. And yet that's what life now consisted of. 'It's crazy how quickly life changes' he thought to himself. He knew Sam was strong, but she was still human. She wasn't perfect, no one was, and it scared him that she wouldn't be able to handle the millions of things she needed to deal with every day.  
But he knew he had to have faith that his sister would recognize when she was pushing her limits, and he had to believe that she would contact one of them, or someone if she began to break in any way.  
He sighed for what had to have been the millionth time that night, and he quietly made his leave.

 ***Friday April 29** **th** **, 2016. 1:00a.m. at the Blair University library***

Sam was being as patient as she possibly could be. Thanks to not having two of her classes that day, she was able to get pretty far ahead when completing her assignments and studying for tests. She was now ahead on some projects and had even completed some preparations for upcoming campus events and meetings related to the organizations she was working for. She even had time to visit Renet for a few minutes to wish her a happy 5th birthday earlier that afternoon. She had basically been on a homework binge and had had an extremely productive day strictly because she could and not because she was just about to miss deadlines. Because of this, she had been either in a café or at the library for more than half of the day. She was on a roll to the point that she had never left.  
She could have left earlier with friends, but she was just so in the zone that she decided to stay. Now that it was so late, she was able to contact Mikey and ask him to walk her home since it would have been his turn to meet up with her.  
Sam was excited, it was Thursday and she didn't have anything planned until later in the afternoon the next day, so Mikey could actually hangout with her for a while rather than just drop her off.  
It had been a pretty good week. Stressful as usual, but somehow she had actually been able to see almost all her turtle brothers. It was rare for her to even be able to hold a decently long conversation with one brother per week because of how busy her schedule always was, but somehow she had been able to meet with 3 out of the 4 brothers this week.

At this point she was just waiting for Mikey to send her a message that he had arrived. She had movies they could watch, games for them to play, new snacks for him to try (some she knew he would love and others she knew he would hate, which would make the experience hilarious as hell), but now she just needed him to show up.  
"Sam."  
Sam turned around and saw Kris walk up behind her.  
"Oh, hey" she said with a smile. "I thought you went home hours ago?" she asked with genuine curiosity.  
"Yeah, I did. And yet you're still here. Geez, how much work do you have to get done?" he whispered with a chuckle.  
"Oh the workload never ends" she groaned as she leaned her cheek against her arm that was laying on the table. "Right now I'm just waiting on a friend to show up and walk me home."  
"Mikey right?" Kris asked.  
Sam scrunched her brow and turned her head towards her friend.  
"How did you know that?"  
"Umm, hate to break it to you, but I got a message from Leo that the guys had to stop a robbery outside of Manhattan. He's not gonna be able to make it. That's actually why I'm here, hehe" he said awkwardly.  
"Oh" Sam said as she slowly nodded her head.  
"Is that okay?" Kris asked, sensing that Sam was upset even though the girl would do everything in her power so that he never knew that.  
"Oh my gosh of course. You think I'd say no to my childhood best friend walking me home?" she said with a genuine smile.

She was fine. This was no big deal. Kris was her friend and she barely got to see him even though they lived together. Why wouldn't this be okay? They were friends, so she was fine…but she was really looking forward to Mikey walking her home. She had been planning that night out in her head all day, but this was fine. I mean, someone had to take care of the city, right? And that was pretty much the only occupation the turtles had. Like technically they could get real jobs depending on the type of job and what was needed to complete it, but this was their main gig. Like, she had to have known that something like this would eventually come up. You know, the one day that she was free and could actually hangout being the day that some idiot robbers had to distract her best friend-  
*BAM!*  
Sam had walked into a wall. Like, literally walked into a damn wall.  
She stood there, her eyes closed from the impact and then slowly opening, just staring at the wall she had walked into. She was too embarrassed to walk away and play it off as if she meant for all of that to happen.  
"Um, you good?" Kris asked.  
Sam pursed her lips. "How many people saw that?" she asked.  
"A group of 10 dudes" he said with an awkward smile, wishing he had the guts to lie and say 'no one.'  
"Super." She then turned towards him with an awkward smile of her own. "Let's go" she said, nodding her head towards the exit.  
"Yeahhhh" Kris said, holding his friend so that he could help prevent her from walking into a wall again.

Of course, two beautiful girls from one of Kris's classes were nearby and saw that Kris (the guy that both girls thought was the most gorgeous thing on earth) was holding onto another female.  
"Kris!" the first girl exclaimed.  
'Thank god we're outside of the library now' Kris thought as the girl ran over towards him as he and Sam exited the building and were now standing outside the front doors.  
Sam looked over and saw a blonde girl with tan skin walk over. She was wearing very tight leggings and a tank top that was flowy towards her mid-section, revealing her stomach as she walked. The second girl was an Asian girl who was wearing the same outfit, but her tank top was much tighter and completely revealed her stomach. Both had sandaled shoes that revealed their perfectly smooth skinned feet and pedicured toes, both had perfectly straight hair, both had make-up that made their faces look smooth and blemish free.

And then there was Sam. Wearing a Vans t-shirt that comfortably covered everything, and her black jeggings, and her black Vans high tops. She thought she looked dope, but of course guys would always go straight for the belly revealing, make-up covered, sandal wearing girls.  
'Man I'm already in a bad mood, I don't need to deal with chicks like these' Sam thought to herself. 'Wait, I'm in a bad mood?' Sam thought to herself. When did that happen? Maybe it was because she walked into a wall, that would usually upset people.  
"Um, what are you doing?" the one girl asked. That's when Sam realized that she was moving her shoulders and head as she nodded to herself…because she was thinking to herself…so basically she was talking to herself while people were around. Awesome.

Sam stared straight at the two girls. "I'm incredibly tired" she said bluntly.  
"Oh. Okay" the girl said with an awkward nod before directing her attention right back to Kris.  
Sam rolled her eyes. Obviously Kris was an extremely attractive dude, but she really didn't feel like waiting while he 'got his flirt on' tonight. If Mikey had been here then she would happily be walking home with him. He wouldn't be flirting with other women, he would be talking to her. No one but her. That was because he couldn't flirt with other women. He would arrive to walk her home and the two would be focused on each other.  
Sam then paused and made, yet again, a weird face.  
'What the hell am I thinking? That was such a weird way to put that' she said as she closed her eyes and scrunched her face. She was thinking genuinely about the quality time her and her best friend would be spending together, but she was thinking about it in such a weird way. Like, why was she emphasizing that the two would be alone? And that his attention would be on her?

"Um, is your girlfriend okay?" the blonde girl asked in a rather annoyed tone.  
Kris quickly turned around. "Sam?" he asked with concern.  
"Hmm?" Sam said as she quickly spun around and faced him with an awkward expression.  
"You good?" Kris asked, genuinely concerned about whether or not his friend was feeling alright.  
Sam nodded. "Yes. I'm just, definitely very tired" she said, hoping that was the actual reason for her thinking these weird thoughts.  
"So she is your girlfriend then?" the blonde asked.  
"No he's all yours honey" Sam said with an annoyed smile.  
"Oh, okay" the girl said, a smile returning to her face.  
'Jesus get me out of here' Sam thought to herself as she stared off towards a nearby alley way.  
'I would have probably met him over there' she thought, not realizing that her shoulder's had slumped down.  
"My friend is very tired, so I'm going to walk her home. Where are the two of you staying?" Kris asked.  
"Oh our apartment is few blocks from here."  
"Oh! Why don't we all head home together then? It's safer to travel in groups anyway" Kris said with sincerity.  
The two girls looked at each other and smiled.  
"That's fine with us. Lead the way" the Asian girl stated.  
Sam rolled her eyes when the others couldn't see.  
'Awesome. Now I have to listen to them talk the entire way home.'

As the group walked, Sam continued to look upwards towards the top of buildings and off in the distance towards alley ways.  
'Come on man. The robbery couldn't have lasted all night, right?'  
She waited, and waited, and continued to hope that maybe Mikey would show up so that she could walk home with him.  
She pursed her lips as she felt a few tears creeping up.  
'DAFUQ IS THIS?!' she thought to herself as she rubbed her eyes. She faked a sneeze so that if anyone turned around, then it would just look like her eyes had become a bit watery from the sneeze.  
Sam was growing irritated in her own thoughts and behaviors. What was she getting all worked up for?! Her best friend wasn't able to walk her home this one time. She had barely been able to talk to him in months! Why was she getting so worked up because of one night? She was so disappointed in herself. Like, really? Because she couldn't watch some movies? And because she couldn't play some video games? And try some snacks? Was it really worth getting this upset about it? It was childish! Just because one night didn't go according to plan? THAT WAS NO REASON TO GET UPSET!

*BAM!*  
And now Sam had walked into a pile of parked bikes, and that lead her to tumble off the curb and into a parked car. Man this was not her night.  
"Jesus Sam!" Kris said. He was dashing back towards her, not realizing that she was walking nowhere near the rest of them.  
Sam's thoughts had distracted her so much that she not only wasn't paying attention to where she was walking, but also didn't realize how slow her pace had become.  
"He had nothing to do with this" she said, trying to make light of the situation. But apparently Kris was taking these blunders much more seriously.  
"Man, I'm sorry Sam. I didn't realize how tired you really were. Here, Jay and Brenda's house is close by. I'm gonna drop you off there for now. That okay?" he asked, not wanting to sound rude but also wanting the girl to lay down and sleep somewhere safe as soon as possible.  
Sam nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."  
At this point she just wanted to lay down in general. Saying today sucked was over exaggerating, but between things not going her way and her thoughts distracting her, and then not even having anything to keep her occupied as the two girls up ahead flirted with Kris the entire walk home, Sam was just done with today.

Luckily they arrived at her brother's apartment building quickly.  
"I'll walk you up" Kris insisted, but Sam made it clear that she wanted to head up by herself.  
She was emotionally tired and honestly pretty confused as to why she was so upset, so she just wanted to be alone.  
She stood outside her brother's door and got her key from her backpack. Sam sighed.  
'At least I'll have the kids to distract me from my confusing thoughts' she thought to herself, a small but still saddened smile on her face.  
She opened the door and was shocked at the sight in front of her.

 ***Friday April 29** **th** **, 2016. 1:00a.m.***

'Shit, shit, shit!' Mikey thought to himself as he leapt and then swung onto a pole from one building so it would launch him with his rocket board over towards the top of a building across the street.  
Of all nights some robbers had to commit petty thefts tonight, and then they were thefts from different locations. The guys traveled in groups of two since Donnie thought it was suspicious and wouldn't let them split off into individual groups in case this was some type of trap. He believed it was just coincidence that there were so many groups in different locations from different gangs and groups, but the guys wanted to play it safe. Mikey just wished they had known all this beforehand so that they could have split off individually and completed their mission ten times faster. Now there was a good chance that he wouldn't get to hang out with his best friend since Leo had apparently contacted Kris to walker her home.  
Mikey loved Kris like a brother and the two were now great friends, but Mikey also knew (or at least assumed) that Sam and Kris had a thing going on. He would never do anything to get in the way of that, but he still wanted to hang out with his best friend and he knew that if Kris arrived first then the two humans would probably want to spend the rest of the night together.

And low and behold, Mikey finally arrived at a building across the street from the universities library just in time to see Sam with Kris's arm around hers.  
"Damn" Mikey sighed as he slumped down over the ledge of the building. He had been beat, and now his best friend would want nothing to do with him for the rest of the night.  
That's when Mikey saw the two girls run over towards where Sam and Kris were standing.  
'Bitches better back off, or my best friend is gonna kick your ass for getting near her man!' Mikey thought to himself with a smirk as he waited for Sam to release her wrath on the two girls…yet Sam just continued to stare off into space and move her shoulders as if she was talking to someone.  
Mikey chuckled. 'She must be so tired that she's talking to herself' he thought to himself with a chuckle.  
Then, to his amazement, the two girls started walking home with Sam and Kris!  
"Oh come on man! Are you that stupid?!" Mikey accidentally said aloud, covering his mouth immediately so that no one would hear him while he was supposed to be in hiding.

He continued to watch the group walk down the street from where he was hiding and was just mind blown as to what the hell Kris was thinking. He was alone with Sam! Sam was a catch of a woman! She was beautiful, she was funny, she was strong yet could be so kind and gentle, her taste in music was as incredible as her dancing, she could handle any and all physical activities, the woman had no flaws!  
'Whoa, watch it Mikey. That's your best friend you're thinking about!' the turtle thought to himself, realizing he was getting a bit carried away. Thank god he hadn't said any of that out loud for anyone to hear.  
The point being, Kris had the time to be alone with an incredible woman and yet he was now walking with two women and leaving Sam behind, which was also beginning to piss Mikey off right now Kris wasn't even paying attention to the fact that Sam was walking much slower than the rest of the group.  
That's when Mikey caught a glimpse of Sam's face. His heart sunk as he watched the girl rub her eyes. Was she crying? DID THAT BOY IGNORING HER FOR OTHER WOMEN MAKE HER CRY?! Now Mikey was genuinely pissed and reached for his phone, ready to contact Sam and remove her from the crazy situation Kris had put her in.

Within the split second Mikey had reached for his phone and had texted a message and was just about to hit send, he looked up and saw Kris holding onto Sam (he had completely missed Sam topple over bikes and into a car). That's when he froze, his finger hovering over the send button. Even though Kris had been walking with those other girls, he came back for Sam. He was now walking with her so that they were side by side. Mikey sighed, what was he thinking? He had no right to intervene with their date, or maybe what was supposed to be a date. Now that he thought about it, Kris was probably walking with those girls so that they wouldn't walk home alone. He wasn't ignoring Sam, he was just being a gentleman, and right now he was probably reassuring Sam that even though he was walking these other girls home that he hadn't forgotten about her.

Mikey sighed once more and ran his hands down his face from exhaustion. He had rushed over here in hopes of hanging out with Sam and instead was getting all worked up while his best friend was on her date. He shook his head, realizing that he needed something to distract himself from everything that was going on.  
"Children, I need to see children" Mikey thought to himself.  
He knew that Donnie was babysitting the kids since they didn't have school the next day, something about a day where there's no school so the parents could meet and have conferences with the teachers. Knowing Renet, she was probably still awake while Donnie was babysitting (Brenda had a late night at the office with April, and Jay was doing some stunt double stuff (dude did a lot of different jobs on the side for extra cash) for a television show that was filming in a further out part of the city).

Mikey quickly made his way over towards the apartment and just like he suspected, everyone was still awake.  
Donnie smiled as he held a smiling baby Keno in his hands.  
"Hey, what's up?" he asked. He heard a ding and carefully placed Keno into his swing as Donnie then made his way over towards the kitchen to get the babies bottle.  
"Not much, just in the mood to see some kiddos" Mikey said as he crouched down in front of the babies swing, making funny faces to get the baby to smile (worked every time).  
"Guess you couldn't catch up to Sam then, huh?" Donnie asked, testing the formula on his arm to make sure it wasn't too hot.  
He noticed the long pause before his brother spoke.  
"Uh, sort of. I got to the library, but she was already heading out with Kris, so I just headed over here since I was already out" Mikey replied, making sure to keep his back to his brother (which Donnie also took note of).  
"And you're okay with that?" Donnie asked as he made his way over to the couch. He placed the bottle on a nearby table and then carefully picked the baby up out of his swing and then got the bottle and got comfy on the couch so that he could feed the baby.  
"What do you mean?" Mikey asked, sitting criss cross on the floor in front of the couch.  
"Uncle Mikey!" Renet called out, dropping everything in her hands and running over towards her youngest mutant uncle.  
"Hey kiddo!" he said, extending his arms so that the girl could run over and jump into his grasp.  
'Way to avoid the question' Donnie thought as he rolled his eyes.  
"I thought it was Uncle Donnie's turn to watch us tonight?" Renet asked.  
"It is, I just thought I would stop by and say hi" he said.  
Renet squinted her eyes.  
"You're upset about something" she stated bluntly.  
"Whaaaaaa?" Mikey asked in attempts to avoid the question with his silliness, but Renet only crossed her arms.  
"You're hiding something. You wouldn't lie to me, would you?" she asked, pouting her lips and making doe eyes at him.  
"You child, are too smart and conniving for your own good" Mikey said with a grin as he started tickling the child, resulting in the child bursting into a bundle of giggles.  
"Answer the question!" Renet said, tears in her eyes from laughing so much.

All of a sudden, the door opened.  
Mikey looked up and was shocked to see none other than Sam standing in the doorway.  
Mikey and Sam both started smiling as they realized that they were truly seeing the other one now in front of them.  
"Hey" she said with a small wave.  
"Hey" he replied, a small chuckle escaping him.  
"Hi Aunt Sam!" Renet said, now running over and hugging her aunt.  
"Hey kiddo! Did you have a good rest of the day today? How does it feel to be five?" Sam asked as she crouched down and hugged her niece.  
"It's been awesome! I got a new tea set and I'm….oh no! My animals! Sorry Aunt Sam, I have business to take care of!" Renet said. She then scurried over towards her wagon of stuffed animals that she forgot about when she saw Mikey and now gathered them all back together. She then pulled the wagon over towards a small kids sized table that was located behind the couch.

Donnie was carefully switching back and forth between looking down at Keno and also looking behind him to watch Renet while she played, however, he was also listening in to the conversation that Sam and Mikey were now holding.  
'There's a seat next to me on the couch, but I bet she'll sit on the floor next to Mikey' Donnie thought as he watched Renet.  
In the corner of his eye he caught Sam place her backpack on the breakfast bar and then walk over and sit down next to Mikey on the floor.  
'Knew it' Donnie thought to himself.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked. "I thought you had to stop a robbery?"  
"We did, and we got all of them, but I wasn't able to make it back in time" Mikey said with an apologetic expression.  
"Then how did you get here?" Sam asked.  
"Well I saw you walking with Kris and-"  
"Wait, you saw me? Where the heck were you?" Sam asked with wide eyes.  
"I was across the street from the library and I stayed in that spot."  
"So why didn't you contact me?"  
Mikey was confused. "Because you were with Kris" Mikey said, his face scrunched in confusion. He then looked behind him to make sure Renet couldn't hear him. Mikey faced Sam and with an infuriated expression whispered "and if he ever does that again to you I'll kick his ass."  
Now Sam was the one with the confused expression. "If he does what?"  
"Ignore you for other women. He was totally ignoring you while he walked with those other girls" he whispered sternly.  
"It's not his job to babysit me" Sam chuckled, "I mean anyone can get distracted and walk into a line of bikes"  
"What?!" Mikey screamed into a whisper.  
"Nothing" Sam said as she jumped back so that her back was straight and she was pretending to actual natural.  
"When did that happen?!" Mikey asked, now very upset.  
"I don't know. I was just thinking about stuff at one point and I accidentally walked into a line of bikes…and then into a parked car."  
"Pfft!" Donnie stifled as he quickly covered his mouth and looked away, trying not to laugh at the image of Sam acting so ditzy.  
Mikey and Sam both laughed at Donnie's reaction which helped calm Mikey down as well.  
"Well if he ever ignores you like that again let me know and I'll come help you out. Like knowing him he was just being nice and making sure those girls didn't walk home alone, but still he totally acted like you weren't even there. And I saw how that made you feel" Mikey said, lowering his voice as he stated the last part.  
Sam's face began to turn red a bit. "What do you mean?" she asked.  
"You know…" Mikey said as he then rubbed his eyes, displaying what he saw Sam doing earlier that day.

'Oh crap he knows about that?!' Sam thought to herself. She was too embarrassed to look Mikey in the eyes now that she knew he caught her crying because he didn't walk her home.  
She did look up when she felt a hand resting on her knee.  
She looked up to see Mikey display a gentle smile on his face.  
"It's okay, I don't blame you for feeling that way when your friend ignores you" Mikey reassured.  
Sam pursed her lips. "It's just, things didn't go the way I thought they were going to, you know?" she said as she rubbed her hand behind her head.  
"Oh I know, but that still doesn't justify his behaviors" Mikey said as he crossed his arms.  
Sam paused and then looked her friend in the face. "Behavior?"  
"Yeah. He can still be a gentleman but can show respect and attention towards you as well. In my opinion he acted like a fool tonight" Mikey said as he shook his head.  
The wheels in Sam's head began to turn as she realized Mikey wasn't talking him not being able to walk her home and how that had upset her, she realized that Mikey thought she had begun to cry because Kris was ignoring her.  
She was going to correct him…but something prevented her from doing so.

"Yeah, but like you said, he's a nice guy. I mean hey, that's why he brought me here. He thought it would be safer to leave me somewhere where I could rest as soon as possible. Heh, he thought was the reason why I walked into the bikes. But really I was just distracted and I didn't want to walk near those girls that were drooling all over him anyway" Sam said as she rolled her eyes and turned so that she was facing the television (Donnie had just turned it on so Renet could have a dance party).  
Mikey smiled as he also turned and faced the television, watching the music videos that were displayed on the screen.  
"Don't worry about them, they have nothing on you. All they care about is materials and make-up. You style and personality alone out-beautify what those two girls have."  
Sam chuckled. "Thanks fam" she said, putting he hand out for a fist bump. She didn't turn to actually face him however because she didn't want him to get the wrong idea from the small blush that had formed on her face.  
'Ha, very funny. But thanks for being a sweet brother and trying to make me feel better' Sam thought to herself. She didn't believe that Mikey actually meant what he had said. She knew that the two girls she saw today would be Mikey's ideal types if he could actually go on dates, which meant she also knew that everything he just said was a total lie. But she would be a liar if it didn't feel nice to hear such compliments since no one ever said things like that to her without a reason (such as her feeling down about her appearance and then someone complimented her because that's how that protocol worked) but Mikey would just randomly compliment her like that without there being a reason why he needed to, he just complimented her on his own.

The two continued to talk and eventually joined Renet in her dance party until all three of them eventually collapsed on the couch later that night.  
Donnie continued to watch over everyone (he was the designated babysitter for that night) and just listed and watched carefully, finding the conversations he had heard that night veryyyyyyyyyyyyy interesting. Interesting indeed.

 ***Saturday April 30** **th** **, 2016. 1:00a.m. A hotel room in Toronto Canada***

Hun exited the bathroom of the small room. He looked over to see Karai meditating.  
"Don't worry, you don't need to be silent" she stated as she continued to face forward, refraining from moving from her position.  
"I just got off the phone with operatives in Tokyo. It sounds like Stockman is continuing to follow our orders. They tested the placebo mutagens on him and he was freaking out to the point that he was bleeding from his ears.  
"Has he located a place for us to use?" Karai asked as she stayed in her position.  
"Yes. He has located a destination where he can retrieve materials that can build what we need him to. Then maybe we can once again locate our master" Hun said as he folded clothes into his suit case.  
"We will. Have faith. Not only must we focus on bringing him back, but we must greet him with a Foot clan worth returning to. So far our travels have been successful. We've recruited enough soldiers to join both the clan and also the Purple Dragons."  
"Heh, I was shocked at how many people we found that were willing to participate. I guess if we advertise that we'll provide them with safety for their families in the U.S. then people will do whatever they need to in order to survive. The tests each ran very well, and we even contacted retired clan members that were able to get into the prison both as guards and as inmates."  
Karai sighed.  
Hun looked over at her, sensing her distress.  
"Don't worry Karai. We got Bebop and Rocksteady in the court yard so they should have been informed of the plans already, same with Tatsu and Sachs. All of them will be freed before you know it. I promised you that Tatsu would be first so that you two can complete the mission together" Hun said with a smirk.  
This got the woman to turn around.  
"Do not tease me" she said sternly.  
Hun put his hands up in defense. "Relax, I just know the two of you grew up together and what not. If I had a woman like that I'd be worried about her to" he said with a genuine smile.  
Karai smirked. "Such an ass" she said as she turned back around towards her meditative position.  
"Everything will fall into place soon" she stated, "we will free Tatsu first once we return to New York. He and I will follow Stockman's order using the machine we located and will enter the location, steal what we need, and will then return so that Stockman can build a new portal. Once we have our team reassembled, we can locate Master Shredder. Make sure to work with Sacha while I'm gone. He's never received training to fight besides for general self-defense. From now on he's going to need to defend himself better since he'll be a prison escapee."  
Karai then turned and faced Hun.  
"You're checking-"  
"I've checked everything, 5 times. No one can hear or see what we're doing in this room. I've been trying to track down as many cameras near places we've been, but you know I'm not the best at this. Unfortunately most of our tech guys got locked up in both the clan and the dragons."  
"Alright. I'll contact the few remaining members in New York. I'll let them know that we head home in a few more hours. I'll make sure the members in Tokyo meet us there with Stockman as well. Get ready, because the real fun is going to begin soon" she stated with a sinister smile as she reached for her phone, ready to set the next part of the plan into action.

 **OH MY GOSH I'VE FINALLY WRITTEN THIS CHAPTER! Like I don't know why it took me so long to finally update! BUT, it's a long chapter so hopefully that helps make up for me taking so long to submit something new .**

 **As you can see, something insane is brewing and is about to happen. Can you handle what's to come? Cause some interesting things are about to happen and I can't wait to finally write about it!**

 **Anyway, hope you're continuing to enjoy the story :3  
**

 **Also, thank you to those who have been sending me messages of support and encouragement. Hearing that you're enjoying the twists and turns of the series means everything to me since that was one of my goals going into this story and hearing that they're making the story exciting to read warms my heart…that sounds cheesy, I know, but it's the honest truth. I was even deemed as a 'misdiretion goddess' and that made my day.**

 **Thank you again to all who read and/or leave comments and/or those who leave likes/kudos/etc. Any type of support is incredible and extremely appreciated.  
And Happy New Years everyone! :D **


	55. Chapter 55

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.** **  
 **Thank you.****

 ****Chapter #55

 ***Friday May 20th, 2016***

 ****It had been 3 weeks since Sam and Donnie had worked together to discover some leads towards Karai and Huns motives for their recent travels around the world. Casey had contacted Donnie the next day and the two met with the brothers to update them, and then held a private meeting with Chief Vincent to discuss what they all had learned.  
Vincent then relayed this information through some personal connections to the director of the FBI.

At this point, the turtles were given permission to hack and do whatever they needed to when being on the lookout for Karai and Hun.  
By the time Donnie had returned to searching for videos of the two villains in Canada, he had learned that they were already en route back to the U.S. They traveled to a few different cities throughout the country. These visits did not follow a specific order, unlike when they had visited different countries. This was probably due to the fact that they were back in the states which would make it easier for police to capture them if they were traveling from state to state in a specific order of one state and then onto the next nearby state.

Donnie continued to monitor Sachs purchases made from his banks accounts and tried his best to observe where the two were headed as they traveled from one state to another random one throughout the country. Simultaneously, he continued to analyze every bit of footage he had obtained from the many visits the two had made from out of the country. He did the best he could to analyze every face he could find. Did they come up again in other videos? Did they show up in video footage from within the prison where the other four criminals who worked for Shredder were located? Did they show up in any articles from around the world where they were noticed completing any other suspicious activities? Donnie had made the other three brothers help him search for any and all faces in each video they were able to obtain.

The brothers made sure to inform Vincent of any connections they made, and luckily a few small things were noted. For example, a few more faces in the background of different videos, or men who were walking down the street when Karai and Hun were, these faces were also seen within the prison. These men were questioned, but revealed nothing. The turtles were not informed of what was being done to make these men talk, but they knew 'something' was being done to get them to talk. However, the men stayed loyal and said absolutely nothing. Knowing this, FBI agents were sent to each city to question as many people as they could: owners of hotels, restaurants, or other businesses where Karai and Hun had been spotted, local officials, even general citizens who were spotted in the same videos as the two villains.  
All this happened within three short weeks. You'd think that three weeks is plenty of time, but somehow a lot had happened within this supposedly lengthy time period.

The last plane ticket purchased by the villainous duo lead them to Pennsylvania. This was also the last place any transactions were made through Sachs accounts in general. However, Donnie happened across an article about gang activity in Washington D. C. and apparently an anonymous witness stated he heard people in the fight saying something about 'the dragons.' This informed Donatello that Karai and Hun were traveling under the radar and were paying for everything with cash so that facial recognition would be the only way to determine their location. Again, Donnie informed everyone about this so that they would be prepared for the two to appear out of nowhere.

Unfortunately, exactly two days after discovering this information, there must have been a prison break that was conducted in secrecy. Even with all the security measures being taken, somehow some mind control devices had been used to control the minds and actions of some officers who escorted Tatsu out of the facility after they had dressed him up to look like an officer himself. It was assumed that it was Stockman's technology that had been used and had been smuggled into the building when some New Yorkers were arrested (presumably on purpose) and they had been collected by soldiers in disguise as actual officers.

The only easy part of this whole situation was learning where the criminals had headed after Tatsu's escape since there had been a break in at what had become a second home to Donatello, the lab where he had been given permission from his brothers to work with some scientists who were friends with Jay who were working on a project where they thought Donnie's intelligence could be of assistance.  
The brothers were now walking with Jay and Casey underground and then made their way back up to the surface so that they were standing in the alley way behind a large building, the building Donnie worked at.

"Okay, so where are we again?" Mikey asked.  
"This is where I've been working with Jay and some of his friends that escaped the Foot. They've been working on a project they thought I could help them with. Remember, I talked to you guys about this months ago when Vincent had offered for us to blend in with society? It was right after we received our keys" Donnie stated as he typed in the code that would let him enter the building.  
"Ohhhhhh that!...so what do you do again?" Mikey questioned.  
"Maybe if you listened the first time then he wouldn't have to repeat himself" Raph grunted and he flicked his youngest brother right between the eyes, resulting in a grumpy Michelangelo.  
The door opened.  
"I'll explain it again when we get inside. Let's go" Donnie said as he ushered everyone into the building.

The guys had never been in a building quite like this. The walls were…bare. They were bright white with absolutely nothing on them. There were no bulletin boards or flyers, there weren't even windows on any of the doors.  
"What kind of place is this?" Leo questioned cautiously, feeling extremely uneasy.  
"I know it looks creepy," Jay stated, "but we're safe. It looks this way so that if someone who wasn't meant to be here broke in, they would have a difficult time locating their way around. Unfortunately, Karai and Tatsu are stronger and more skilled than the average human so they were able to do whatever they wanted to with ease" he groaned.  
They walked down endless hallways until finally they entered a small room. However, one of the walls of this tiny room was actually a window that overlooked a humongous open space down below (there was a staircase outside a door in the room that lead to this space). The brothers could not see what was in this space since the lights had been turned off, so all they saw was pitch black darkness.  
"Fancy stuff" Mikey stated as he went to touch a button along a long control panel that was located right below the gigantic window.  
Donnie instantly slapped his brothers hand without thinking.  
"Don't touch ANYTHING" he stated sternly as he pointed to his younger brother.  
"Words work without violence" Mikey mumbled.  
"So what is all this?" Leo asked.  
Donnie and Jay looked at each other. Jay then took a step back and ushered his arms forward, signaling to Donnie that he had the floor to explain.

"Alright then" he said as he clapped his hands together. "So Jay has some very intelligent friends who for years had been working on the concept of traveling in ways other than by vehicle."  
"So time travel?" Raph asked.  
"Sort of, but more so along the lines of…seeing what else the world could offer."  
Leo straightened his stance.  
"You…you don't mean, like…another universe" he stated with a scrunched face.  
Donnie nodded as he bit his lip.  
"Exactly that. Regardless of any research or theories conducted, people always laughed at the idea of traveling to an alternate universe, but then Kraang appeared and it wasn't such a silly idea anymore. SO, because of this, the university where these guys work at as scientists gave them some grants to fund their research and they've actually been able to buy some rather difficult to locate materials and low and behold, we were able to build something incredible" Donnie said, beginning to sound way more excited than an almost adult male ever should.  
"But how is that even possible? I mean, everything has just been theories, like-" Raph stated before being cut off by his youngest brother who said-  
"Death" in a low tone.  
Leo and Raph both slapped the back of Mikey's head.  
"What is the matter with you?" Leo snarled with Raph glaring and gritting his teeth.  
"OW! Quantum Immortality is a thing! Right?" Mikey said as he looked toward Donnie for reassurance, while also holding onto the back of his head.  
"Yeah guys. Quantum immortality theorizes that when people die their consciousness leaves their body and travels to another universe where that person is either about to begin a new life or where they are still alive, but their body remains here which allows the remaining loved ones to mourn from their loss as they hold funerals or memorials" Donnie stated calmly.

Leo and Raph stood still besides for their nervously blinking eyes.  
"Right…continue" Leo said, now feeling guilty for accusing Mikey of being morbid and ridiculous when he was actually referencing something extremely interesting.  
"Anyway," Donnie continued, "while that is one theory that has been discussed, this team focused on, well, a mix of two different theories actually. The first is known as the many world's interpretation."  
"Ohhhhhh! I've heard of that!" Mikey said as he raised his hand and jumped in place.  
Donnie chuckled. "Go on."  
"It means that everything that happens leads to a new universe where that action leads to different results. For example!" Mikey said as he then turned towards Raph and slapped him rather hard on the back of his shell.  
Raph growled and went to fight back when Donnie told him to 'hold on and listen.'  
"That alone has now created different universes based on the different outcomes. One universe could include you kicking my ass, one could include me missing and hitting Leo instead. In our universe, this is the outcome which we are experiencing now" Mikey stated proudly.  
"Ugh, that's the dumbest-"  
"Truth" Donnie said, cutting on his heated older brother.  
"How do you even know about all this?" Leo asked in amusement.  
"Heh, Sam and I research a lot of fun topics. She makes them understandable" Mikey said with pride, nodding his head and crossing his arms in front of him.  
"Alright, now someone explain why we needed to learn all this" Raph grunted.

"I'm going to come back to that. For now, I want to tell you about one more theory about a portal or gateway that was theorized by a man named Michio Kaku."  
At this point Donnie nodded his head for his brothers to follow him as he talked and exited the room through the doorway that lead to the gigantic space below.

"Kaku stated that if a gateway could be created and was powered by an apparatus that covered the entire solar system that that would be the needed size to create a portal with enough energy to rip a hole in space and time. The only way to do this would be to build an atom smasher half a billion miles long. Someone would need to fire two particle beams in opposite directions through a series of relay stations with each using powerful gravitational fields to bend the beams into an orbit around our solar system. The two streams would move in opposite directions in thousands of laps around the solar system and would get faster and faster until they collide, resulting in an explosion so powerful it would tear a hole into reality, or it would form a gateway. Then, inject some negative matter…"  
Donnie turned to realize his three brothers and Casey had absolutely no idea what the hell he was talking about.  
"*sigh* Leaving out the specifics such as how we even form negative matter, this theorized portal would never work because it would be so large it would stretch a human thin, the only way this portal would ever be able to be tested would be to use nanobots."  
"Wait," Leo cut in, "you keep saying this portal. But, didn't Kraang create a portal? That's how he got here in the first place."  
A wickedly excited smile grew on Donatello's face.  
"That's the thing. Kaku's portal would be impossible to build…but that was before the laws of science were broken with alien mutagen. The guys I've been working with helped me determine that Kraang must rely on mutagen for multiple purposes back wherever he is from. This means that his laws of physics include mutagenic properties. So then we decided to include this mutagen in our testing as well."  
Donnie then turned on the lights to the open space so that a huge machine was seen and revealed. It circled all throughout the room and certain sections even cut throughout the middle of the room so that different sections of the device were connected to others. At the very front of the room were large metal beams that were formed in a circle. On both sides of the circle were poles that connected this central piece to the rest of the machine that circled the large room.  
"Ahhh so you're finally showing them."

At this moment four young men had entered the room. They each introduced themselves to the turtles. The first man named Logan had white skin, shorter brown hair that revealed his forehead, and blue eyes. He seemed very familiar to the other three turtles, but they couldn't quite think back to where they would have ever seen this man before. The next man named Dave also had white skin but was taller than the first man. He had lighter brown hair that was styled and curved upwards on top his head where his forehead was also exposed and he had brown eyes. The next man named Justin was an Asian man whose black hair was styled so that it curved to the left while also revealing his forehead who had brown eyes. The final man named Cameron had black skin with short black hair where his forehead was exposed and had brown eyes that were located behind a solid black pair of glasses.  
All four men seemed somewhat familiar since each of them had been at Jay and Brenda's wedding.

"Donnie" Leo began.  
"It's okay. These are the four guys I've been working on this project with" Donnie reassured.  
"If it means anything, we owe you our lives. So we'd be pretty dishonorable pieces of shit if we told anyone anything about you guys" Dave said with a shrug.  
"I'm pretty much obsessed with you guys. You know, since you're literally the coolest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen some shit" Justin stated bluntly.  
Jay gritted his teeth and smiled. "My friends are interesting. But trustworthy. Even Stockman over there" Jay said as he pointed towards Cameron, who made it clear he was not pleased with the reveal of his last name.  
"Dude! Really?!" he called out as he tossed his hands up at his sides.  
"Honesty gains their trust, not hiding the truth" Jay said.  
"Okay look, since the three of you are already glaring me down," Cameron stated as he turned towards the three brothers he had just met, "I'm Baxter's cousin. I had no idea he would voluntarily join Shredder, none of us did. Not my younger brother, not Baxter's older brother Dexter. None of us. We did everything we could to get him to stop worrying about being the best of the best. I mean, unfortunately his parents made his entire life a competition about being the best and that lead him down some regrettable paths. But I'm not my cousin, so you don't have to worry about me turning against you or anything. I was forced Foot after all. I owe my freedom and my life to the four of you."

The three brothers softened their expressions, feeling some compassion for the man and the loss of his cousin. The three couldn't imagine what it must be like to have so little family love and instead have that replaced with competition, frustration, and anger for all of their lives.  
"Alright, so we know you guys aren't going to tell anyone about us. So continue telling us why we're here" Leo stated.  
The four scientists looked back and forth at each other.  
"Take it away Donnie" they said in unison, knowing how much their new colleague loved to nerd out and explain everything.  
Donnie smiled and began to explain things once more.  
"Thanks to the endless amounts of mutagen that Professor Perry has kept stored underground, we have been able to properly and humanely test mutagen to the best of our abilities and with that information we were able to determine which mutagens could be used to create a device that would hold the same energy levels as the atom smasher I mentioned earlier. Earlier on I stated that the machine would be so large that humans wouldn't be able to physically test it if something impossible like that could ever even be built. But, since this is obviously much smaller, we can travel through it."  
"Wait, so you're saying that you guys actually built a portal that can take us to a different dimension, or universe, or whatever?" Leo asked in amazement.  
"That's exactly what I'm saying" Donnie said as he rubbed his hands together.  
"Ugh, I'm butting in" Dave stated. "Because this dork won't take credit for building more than 90% of this machine himself. Like we all have the smarts to discuss it, but when it comes to actual construction, this guy is a life saver" Dave said with a closed eyed-wide teeth bearing smile. He knew Donnie got slightly embarrassed when taking credit for his accomplishments, but he was truly grateful for everything his mutant friend had done for the team. He also enjoyed annoying people he cared about, and now was the perfect opportunity.  
Donnie was waving his friend away and continued to tease back, so he didn't realize his three brothers smiling because of their brother's accomplishments.

They all knew that Donnie was a freaking genius and was a good…80 to 90% reason that they had all survived over the years. Donnie did almost everything for them. He wasn't just the scientist, he was the family doctor, electrician, mechanic, safe-keeper (in regards to security systems), and therapist/psychologist. Donnie knew about all different types of sciences and was able to provide so much for his family because of it, but his brothers knew that he had so much more to offer to the world than just protecting and upgrading home appliances.  
So seeing him being praised by a team of scientists was heart-warming for the brothers. Of course, they wouldn't go overboard and tell him all this because…well, it would be awkward. None of them ever got 'mushy' like that unless something was truly wrong. But the next time Donnie was downing himself and in a negative funk, they were definitely going to reference this moment.

"Anyway" Donnie stated as he returned back to the original conversation, "the reason all of us are here now is because…well. We successfully opened a portal to an alternate dimension. Now whether there are multiple universes we can travel to or not, we don't know yet. But we were able to access one. That's why I mentioned the multiple world's theory earlier. The universe we found is similar to ours, but there are some differences, as if certain things did or didn't happen in that universe compared to what did or didn't happen in ours. I haven't been there, but Jay has traveled over with these guys while I stayed back and monitored everything…"  
The brothers waited for Donnie to continue talking. They were shocked at how long his pause was.  
"What's wrong with the other universe?" Leo asked.  
Donnie looked worried. He would open his mouth to talk, and then he would immediately close his lips.  
Jay placed a hand on Donnie's shoulder, signaling that he would take over.  
Donnie nodded since it was hard for him to say what was discovered in this alternate universe.

"When the guys and I went over, everything seemed normal. It's basically an alternate New York, essentially another Earth overall. We're still studying it, A LOT. But so far we've only traveled around New York which is where the portal opened to. The first thing we instinctively thought to do was to check and see how our lives were different or similar in this new world. If we even existed that is. So, we checked underground first and, well, you guys don't exist" Jay stated gently.  
"Whoa…why not?" Mikey asked with wide eyes.  
"From what we've learned, the Foot were wiped out years ago. There's no New York branch, there's no Tokyo branch. Nothing. No Shredder, no soldiers. So there was no corporation that experimented on baby turtles."  
"I wanna feel happy, but it's weird to think that if the Foot was wiped out and everyone else was never put in danger…" Raph trailed off. He was glad to hear that the Foot couldn't hurt people, but it left him with a strange feeling to know that something like that would mean he would still be a regular turtle in a cage.  
"It's normal to feel confused about it. There were things that changed within each of our families and it's definitely difficult to comprehend it" Logan stated. "I lost one of my siblings because of such slight changes…and that took me awhile to recuperate from."  
Mikey's eyes went wide. "You. You're related to the triplets. Right?"  
"What?" Leo asked.  
"So there's a guy on Sam's soccer team. Brownish black hair, kinda curls up some and he has brown eyes. Sometimes when they leave the arena he walks over to a guy that sort of looks like him but the other guy has much shorter cut hair and blue eyes. And then there's a girl who looks like both of them because she has a short haircut but she's thinner and she's cute and-"  
"Your point?" Leo cut in with a stern tone.  
"Their triplets. Sam has mentioned them before, and he looks exactly like them but older" Mikey stated as he nodded his head and pointed towards Logan.  
"Ahhhh I remember now" Raph said with a nod. "They were at the wedding to." Raph then paused and closed his eyes with a pained expression displayed on his face. "Does that mean in this alternate universe that one of them…"  
Logan nodded. "Apparently there were complications at birth and my sister was never born in the alternate universe. It's just guys. It took me awhile to wrap my head around that. I kid you not I returned and for hours just sat at home holding my sister and crying. Of course I couldn't tell her anything so she had no real idea why I was crying, and I mean she was right there in front of me which proved she was okay. But knowing that one little thing could have done something so tragic, it's not easy to cope with. Moral of the story, don't feel strange for being happy the Foot exist now because without that you wouldn't be here. Its tough stuff to wrap your head around" Logan reassured with a smile, to which the turtles greatly appreciated.

Mikey paused and looked straight at Jay. "What happens to Sam?"  
"So, it's not necessarily what happens to her, its more-"  
"Guys we need to get things moving."  
Everyone turned to see Casey running back down the stairs (which no one knew he had even left due to the conversations that were being held).  
"I just got off the phone with Vincent. So…she didn't know about all this. I mean, a lot of people knew nothing about this, it was a classified project. But she's pissed because she sees it as a motive that detectives could have known about in regards to Karai, Hun, and Tatsu's actions. She believes that since all three traveled through the portal that we could have been better prepared if more people knew about this project. She's on her way here now so if you have something you're doing with this" he said as he waved his hand in circles towards the giant machine, "then you need to do it now."

Jay nodded. "I'll explain more once we travel."  
The other four men began moving into stations while Jay and Donnie talked and lead the turtles over towards where the portal would be opening.  
"The four guys are going to stay behind with Casey and monitor everything while we are gone. That's why I needed all four of you guys to make this journey with me. We don't know why Karai and Tatsu wanted to travel to the alternate universe we discovered, but they must want something. The main thing we've learned is that this world is much, MUCH safer than the world we live in today, and because of the peace the state is also much more advanced than ours. That could play a factor in our enemy's motives, but it's hard to know for sure. I'll explain more about mine and Sam's living situation once we get there. I don't know for sure where it will send us since, well, we haven't fixed that part just yet on our end. But whatever happens, try to stay hidden and don't interact with anyone, even people you've met such as Sam herself. We don't know how people will react, so act the same way you would as if we were in our New York city" Jay informed.  
"Take these" Donnie said as he handed a small shell looking device to each person in the group.  
"They don't do much, but they'll allow us to communicate here with the guys on their end. Somehow the mutagen allows communication between space and time, so if anything goes wrong we can communicate with each other. Everyone upstairs including Casey had already received one."  
"Whoa, T-coms!" Mikey announced.  
"What?" Raph grunted.  
"You know, turtle communicators! Since that's all they really do."  
"Guys! Right now our goal is to stay close and meet up somewhere on a rooftop as soon as possible. We don't know where this thing will send us, so we need to meet back up fast. On the T-coms are two buttons. Red means to talk just in the universe we're in, and blue is used to communicate back to our home" Donnie informed.  
"Wait, is Casey going to tell April, Sam, or Brenda where we are?" Leo asked.  
Jay bit his lip and in a saddened expression said "he'll update April and Brenda. Sam…not so much. He's going to stall on that one. You'll….you'll see why later."

"We're all set!" Justin stated through an intercom that allowed the group in the open space to hear what was being said in the booth up above.  
"Aright guys. Are you ready?" Jay asked.  
The brothers nodded. Donnie turned around and gave the men up above a thumbs up, and within seconds, the portal was open.  
They all took a long sigh, and they walked through the portal.

It felt strange, as if they were being thrown around. It lasted for about 10 seconds. There wasn't any pain or discomfort, but it felt as if they were spinning and being tossed around, and then darkness, but that was mainly because wherever they all were it was dark.  
BAM!  
Lights started flashing and music was blaring as people began screaming and cheering.  
Raph was standing in the back of a large, LARGE, room. Well, it wasn't even a room. It was more of a warehouse that seemed like it stretched for miles.  
"Concert? Awesome. So much for staying hidden" he grumbled, not that he could even hear himself over the crowd of screaming fans. Even in the very back of the room it was loud. He quickly realized, and was grateful for the fact, that this must have been some type of costume event since everyone was wearing some type of costume, that or everyone here just dressed really weird.  
He pulled his T-com out of his pocket and pressed the red button.  
"Where are you guys?" he shouted into the device.  
"I'm all the way in the front" Donnie stated.  
"I'm with him" Jay stated.  
"I'm in the very back" Raph stated as he leaned back on the wall behind him.  
"Hey Raph, jump up for me" Leo stated.  
Raph shrugged and did as he was told.  
"I see you. Heading your way. Mikey were are you?" Leo asked.  
"Dudes this is awesome!" Mikey exclaimed.  
"Mikey where are you located?" Leo asked again, much more sternly.  
"In HEAVEN!" he exclaimed.

Mikey wasn't exactly paying attention since he was located right in the direct center of the building. Leo was asking for him to jump as well, but Mikey had already put his T-com back in his pocket. He couldn't believe it. He was surrounded by people at some type of concert or music festival. And of all freaking Artists, BTS was performing. Like, had he died and gone to heaven? Their new album had just dropped…oh, back in their universe. He assumed that was also the case here since the boys were currently performing 'Save Me' from the album.

'I guess this is something that stayed the same' Mikey thought as he looked around at everyone. However, he was confused as to why BTS of all groups was performing in a random warehouse.  
That's when the group started singing 'Fire,' and all thoughts in Mikey's head flew right out the door.  
He knew these lyrics and he knew this dance, so once the music started playing he was dancing and scream singing without even realizing it. Sam was the reason he even knew this group existed and they had quickly become one of his many favorites. However, had had been jamming so hard that he and a fan standing nearby had both bumped into each other and would have made the person tumble and fall, if Mikey hadn't hooked his arms under theirs that is.  
"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" he shouted.  
The person then turned around to face him. It was then that Mikey realized the person was wearing a Captain Phasma costume from Star Wars and assumed this person must be a woman.  
"You're fine! It's all good!" the person shouted.  
However, Mikey couldn't hear anything due to all the noise.  
"What?!" he shouted.  
The woman tried to communicate with him once more, but he still heard nothing.  
The woman slumped her shoulders, obviously growing frustrated.  
She then pulled out her phone and typed a message that he could read. She showed him the phone so that he could read the words 'it's okay cutie, accidents happen J'

Mikey stood there with a beaming smile.  
"You think I'm cute huh?" he asked as he tried to stand in a 'cool' stance. He pretended to lean against a wall and crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
The girl shook her head, typed another message, and showed him the phone.  
'Ehhh, you aight.'  
"Ha! That's not what you said the first time" Mikey teased. "What made you think I was so cute?" he pressed on.  
He then read the phone again.  
'Your costume shows off your muscles.'  
"Oh yeah, I work out a lot" he said as he flexed "so I needed to make sure the costume wouldn't rip due to these guns" he said with a confident smile.  
The conversation then went back and forth between him talking and the girl typing on her phone.

'You live around here?'  
"Ummm, sort of. I've been to New York before. But it's been awhile you know?"  
She nodded.  
'So what exactly is your costume of?'  
"Oh! It's an original. I made it, along with my brothers. They're wearing the costumes they made. They sort of look like mine but each of us has our own flare."  
'Oh? You have brothers?'  
"Yeah! I'm one of four. I'm the youngest actually. You know, save the best for last."  
He could tell that the girl was laughing.  
'I would agree, but I'm second to last in my group of four, so I'd be lying."  
Now Mikey was the one to laugh.  
"How about we call it a truce and say that both the last AND second to last are the best in the family?"  
The girl put her hand forward and shook his in order to claim the truce.  
'Do you have any sisters? Or is it just your brothers? What's the age difference?'  
"No sisters. And umm, I don't really know the difference. I just know it's by a matter of minutes."  
'WAIT, ARE YOU A QUADRUPLET?!'  
"Haha yeah I am!"  
'Dude that's insane? Do you all look alike?!'  
"Oh no. You can definitely tell the four of us apart. How about you? Since I'm assuming in your four siblings you're not a quadruplet."  
'I have one older brother and one older sister, and then I have a younger brother. Well…technically I have more siblings. I have family-friends who have literally helped raise me because our parents are so close, so in a sense I have two extra brothers and sisters from the extended family haha.'

Mikey paused and stood there. Even with all the music around him, he was frozen solid. He was talking to a woman with the exact same number of siblings as Sam. She had a younger brother and then an older sister and then brother. Plus, this new chick had the same number of extended family-friend siblings that Sam did. He couldn't believe it. There was no way, out of everyone here, there was no way that-  
"Hey! You okay?"  
Mikey finally regained his senses and realized the girl was standing so that her lips were near the side of his head. She had lifted her mask up just enough for him to hear her voice. A voice that he could recognize anywhere at any time, a voice who was back home taking her finals. So…how was he hearing it now?  
Mikey stood there and with a slightly shocked expression, he removed the girl's helmet completely.  
"Whoa, hey!" the girl called out. "Dude that's pushing it. Hand it back!"  
"Sam?" he asked softly, but loud enough for the girl to hear.  
She stopped and stared at him with her anger filled eyes.  
"I'm sorry but do I know you?" she asked in furry.  
"No…I guess you don't" he mumbled. This, now this felt weird. Sam didn't know him, but that was because this was a different Sam. This was a completely different girl, even if they did look the same…but this one was wearing…was that, lip gloss?  
Mikey reached out to run his thumb over the girls lips to see if that's what it really was, only to have his hand slapped away.  
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she shouted.

'Shit! That's right, I can't do things like that since this isn't really Sam!' Mikey thought to himself as he quickly retracted his hand.  
"Ummmmm" Mikey stuttered, failing to respond with words.  
The girl then started to slap Mikey's arms. "Give me back my helmet and leave me alone you freak!" Sam shouted.  
Now that really stung. Of all things she could have called him, why did it have to be that? And of all people for this awkward encounter to be held with, why did it have to be Sam? This hurt him and he didn't know how to react. He felt scared. Even though he knew this wasn't really Sam, it hurt to see her acting this way towards him and because of this he didn't know what to do. While he was trapped in his thoughts, Sam continued to slap her hands against Mikey's arms, and the material of her costume was actually making that begin to hurt.  
"Sam, please stop" he stated, trying to grab onto her arms gently to make her calm down, to show that he wasn't going to hurt her. Apparently she didn't get the message.

"Don't touch me you weirdo!" she shouted as she yanked her arm back and then slapped him across the face.  
"Jesus Sam cut it out!" Mikey exclaimed. Without thinking, he used his shoulder to shove the girl back. He was used to his Sam having the strength and powers to resist his playful shoves and this would have done absolutely nothing to her…but once again, this was not his Sam.  
This usually harmless shove, a reaction from the pain and fear of the girls slaps and shouts, sent her crashing to the ground.  
'SHIT! What am I doing?!' Mikey thought.  
He took a step forward and began to lean his hand for her to grab onto.  
"Sam I'm so-"  
"GET AWAY YOU MONSTER!" Sam shrieked as she kicked her legs, both as a means to attack and also as a means to scoot away from him.  
Mikey froze and dropped the helmet in his hands, not even realizing he had done so.  
He shook his head, his breathing beginning to increase its pace.  
"You don't mean that-"  
"I do! God what is wrong with you?! Who treats any human like that? Especially a woman! You must be the lowest scum on the earth" she scowled as she glared at him. She then paused as she saw the 'man in the costume' in front of her look as if he was hyperventilating.  
He continued to shake his head as he spoke and he looked as if he was on the brink of tears. "You don't mean that. You, you don't-"  
He reached for her hand once more. For some reason he could not fathom that this wasn't his best friend, so the touchy feely person he knew like the back of his hand was not the same as this person.  
"God what is wrong with you?! I don't even know you! No means no, so stop trying to touch me. You act like a freaking animal."  
"No, we're best friends. You just don't know it yet."  
Sam rolled her eyes. "So you're one of those people. Look buddy just because we were having a nice conversation doesn't mean I'm obsessed with you or that I want to get in your pants. Now back of you freak or I'll call the police. I mean really, were you dropped on your head when you were born?"  
"SAM!"  
Sam turned around to see Jay running up behind her.  
"Oh shit!" Sam said. She knew she wasn't supposed to be here, so she tried to run away once Jay saw her.  
That's when Leo ran up and swung his arms around Sam so that she couldn't run. At the time he just saw Jay call to a woman who then ran away and assumed she had wronged someone in their group.  
"Pardon me miss…Sam?" he asked now that he was getting a good look at the woman.  
"Let me go!" she screamed as she attempted to writhe and claw her way out of the 'man in the costume's' grasp.  
"Jay! Help me!" Sam called out as she looked over towards her friend.

She looked over and saw that Jay was talking to the crazy pervert who had been touching her, and Jay was placing his hands on the man's cheeks so that he would look him in the eyes.  
"What the hell?" Sam mumbled.  
"What happened?" Leo asked.  
"Guess you're one of the brothers. Are you a pervert to?" she asked roughly.  
Leo's eyes went wide. He was taken aback and shocked by this random question. "Excuse me?"  
"You must be, since you won't let me go!" she called out.  
"SAM!"  
Sam remained still as she looked up and saw Jay storm towards her.  
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" he called out.  
"Okay, I know I wasn't supposed to sneak out and go to the concert, but-"  
"Sam I don't care about that! Why would you ever say shit like that to someone?!" Jay then tilted his head upwards to speak to Leo. "Leo trade places with me. Contact your brothers and meet me behind the warehouse. You" he said distastefully as he grabbed Sam's arm, "you're gonna go on a walk with me."  
Sam didn't argue and walked with Jay as he stormed off and lead the two out of the building.

Leo then walked over towards Mikey.  
"What happened?" he asked in concern.  
Mikey just kept shaking his head as he talked.  
"I'm not a monster man. I'm not a freak, or an animal, or a pervert" Mikey choked out, his breathing totally out of control.  
"Whoa, what?" Raph asked.  
Donnie and Raph had received a message from Jay earlier about Mikey's location and had just heard him saying all the names of what he wasn't.  
"Did Sam call you all those things?" Leo asked.  
"WHAT?! She's here?!" Raph bellowed.  
"Oh you would be the first to find her" Donnie groaned. "I see things got off on the wrong foot."  
Mikey's breaths were rapid as he spoke.  
"We were just talking and I realized she was Sam, so I removed her helmet so I could see her, and dude she was wearing freaking lip gloss! Like, the fuck?"  
"Did you touch her?" Donnie asked.  
"Well, yeah" Mikey said, his gaze facing the ground in embarrassment.  
"So, as you've seen, Sam here is very different from our Sam. I'll explain more later, but Mikey" Donnie said as he put his hands on his baby brother's shoulders, "just remember that that is not OUR SAM. She's going to look, think, and act differently. Whatever she says is not what our Sam thinks, and it definitely is not the truth. Just keep that in the back of your head the next time you interact, okay?"  
Mikey sighed and nodded his head.  
"Yeah, I know. Got it."  
He still looked down, but it was evident he was feeling better than he was moments ago.

The group then made their way through the crowd and exited the warehouse. They asked Jay for his location and quickly met him around the back of the building.  
There, Jay was leaning against the wall. He looked drained, as if he had just returned back from a war. And then there was Sam, who was looking at the brother's with such a painful look of disgust.  
"Now can you tell me why they're here?" she asked, although it sounded more like a demand.  
"Sam, these are friends of mine-"  
"How? We have all the same connections, all of us" she bit back.  
"Well, these are some new friends" he replied, fighting his hardest to remain calm.

"So now you hang out with perverts and assholes?" Sam stated. She hadn't even met Raph, and yet she was sending him his own individual death glare.  
Mikey bit his lip and looked away as a means not to freak out again when he heard her yet again refer to him as a pervert.  
"Sam, cool it" Jay demanded harshly.  
"Why? This guy touched me even when I said no and then he shoved me to the ground. And now you're telling me your friends with this clown?"  
"You don't even know me" Mikey suddenly cut in with a bitter tone and an agitated expression.  
"I know enough to know you're as slow as the animal you're dressed as" she bit back.

"Wow you're a bitch here" Donnie stated aloud…and then stood there with wide eyes as he realized he had said that aloud and not in his head.  
He then continued to stand there in shock as a female hand literally slapped him across the face.  
"Whoaa!" roared from the guys in the group after what they had just seen.  
That pushed Raph to his limit. He didn't care who this woman was or who she looked like, no one disrespected his brothers like that.  
Raph pulled Sam to the side and shoved his arm down on her chest so that her entire upper body was pinned to the wall of the outside of the building. He then moved his right foot and leg so that they pinned the lower half of her body.  
"Alright, listen up. Cut the shit. I don't know what act you're trying to pull acting all tough, but you can't do shit" he said as he pushed forward some, making it hard for the girl to breathe. "Do or say anything to any of my brothers again, and that face of yours is going to look different tomorrow morning" he threatened.

Sam turned her gaze towards Jay.  
"Are you seriously just going to stand there and let him threaten me like that?"  
Jay shrugged. "You know the rules. If he doesn't touch you, you don't touch him. Once you lay a finger on the guy then you're saying you have what it takes to hold your own. So you just told these guys you have what it takes to fight any of them. So, be prepared."  
Sam glared at the man in front of her and grumbled an "I'm sorry."  
Raph backed off, only for Sam to try and swipe and claw at him. So, he put her back in the same position.  
"Discuss whatever you guys need to. She ain't going nowhere."  
Jay sighed and ran a hand down his face.  
"I'm so, so sorry about her. I knew she was feisty, but I didn't know she was this bad. Damn."  
"What's our next move in this place? Where's a safe place for us to work?" Leo asked.  
"We're gonna head back to my place. My AU self already knows we all exist-"  
"Wait, what?" Raph called out. "Doesn't that like, change events in the future?"  
"You're thinking of time travel" Donnie stated. "If we were visiting ourselves in the future or past then yes, meeting ourselves would be bad. But in this case it should be fine."  
"What the hell are you all talking about?" Sam growled.  
"Ugh, well we have to keep her involved now since she knows" Jay groaned. "I wasn't going to tell any of the siblings, but I guess she'll have to tag along. Everyone ready?" Jay asked.  
Everyone nodded, even Mikey who had been staring at the ground the entire time.  
Jay then walked over towards Sam.  
"Sam, I promise I will explain everything when I get home. For now all I can say is that these are my friends. They're very important to me, so you need to show them some respect. We'll discuss everything, even what happened here just now, when we get back home. Can you walk home with me, and without harming my friends physically or verbally?" Jay asked.  
Sam glared at the men in the turtle costumes. "Just tell them not to touch me" she mumbled.

"Who would want to?" Mikey mumbled, resulting in a light nudge from Leo. This girl was already crazy, so they didn't need anything to make her act crazier.  
Raph let go of the girl and walked back over towards his younger brother. He was furious about how this girl was making his baby brother feel. Of all people, why did it have to be Sam (sort of) who was saying all this? Raph couldn't imagine what Mikey was thinking at the moment, but he and the others all prayed that once they reached Jay's house, everything would calm down and get a little bit better to some extent.

 **Hello!  
This was uploaded for a day and then greatly change. If you read this before January 3rd, 2019 then I would highly recommend re-reading. This message will be posted on the following chapter as well. **

**Thanks!**


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